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Chattanooga, TN
First Centenary
419 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga
, TN
423-756-2021
The steeple of the
First
Methodist
Church
is all that remains of the building that was long referred to by Chattanoogans as “
Stone
Church
.” At the time of the Union occupation of
Chattanooga
, the city had a substantial Methodist parish that was affiliated with the slave-holding sympathetic Methodist body, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Union troops, their families, and other northern sympathizers who had come to
Chattanooga
during the occupation found it necessary to form their own parish which became
First
Methodist
Church
, and which later occupied the “
Stone
Church
.” In 1967, three decades after the Southern branch and Northern branch of the
Methodist
Church
reunited, the First Methodist and Centenary congregations of
Chattanooga
combined to form
First-Centenary
United
Methodist
Church
. Though the First Methodist congregation’s nave was razed and a parking lot was placed where it stood, the steeple of the “
Stone
Church
” remains a fixture in the
Chattanooga
skyline.
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