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Chattanooga, TN
St. Elmo United Methodist Church
4626 Saint Elmo Avenue
Chattanooga, TN
413-821-2101
The church was founded in 1883 by the Rev. W.J. Drinnon as the St. Elmo Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It is the oldest parish of any denomination in the St. Elmo Historic District. Originally founded as a religion class that met at the crossroads of Wauhatchie Pike and Valley Road with only 14 attendees, the congregation soon grew and was given a parcel of land and a substantial sum of money for the construction of a church by real estate developer and local philanthropist Col. A.M. Johnson.
Under the supervision of the Rev. T.C. Schular, the congregation grew, and in 1885 began construction on a church. By 1920 the congregation had outgrown its Victorian church building and voted to investigate the construction of a new, substantially larger structure. A church building committee procured a lot at the corner of St. Elmo Avenue and 47th Street where the new church was constructed under the supervision of the Rev. J.A. Bays. Bishop Warren A. Candler, chancellor of
Emory
University
and brother of Asa Candler, who founded the Coca-Cola Company, laid the cornerstone for the new church on
August 7, 1921
. The 1921 structure serves the congregation of St. Elmo United Methodist Church today.
Bishop Warren A. Candler, chancellor of
Emory
University
and brother of Asa Candler, who founded the Coca-Cola Company, laid the cornerstone for the new church on August 7, 1921. The 1921 structure serves the congregation of St. Elmo United Methodist Church today.
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