Central United Methodist Church
Central
United Methodist Church was started in 1911 and the building completed
in 1914 at Bigley Ave and Birch Street at a cost of $60,000. It
probably cost 5 times that to tear it down. The church at it's
peak had 1000 members and 600 in Sunday School. It was demolished
in 2012-2013. |
Bowman Methodist Church was the mother church of Central.
in 1892 it was located at 1111 Bigley Ave near Market Drive.
Later a more modern church building was erected.
A beautiful Barlow Funeral Home Hearse in front of the church
But by the turn of the century, even that church had become too small.
So a large brick and stone church was erected by 1914.
Central
was the perfect "Akron plan" church with an honest-to-goodness octagon sanctuary
and dome. They did some major renovations in 1955--rebuilt and enlarged
the organ, created a center aisle, created a glassed-in "cry room in
the balcony for young mothers with babies, and made the folding door
situation a solid wall. The only other true Akron Plan church in Charleston was the old Christ Church before it burned.
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