First Baptist Church (Knoxville, Tennessee) - Time of Growth 1921-1952

Time of Growth 1921-1952

Frederick Fernando Brown°, a North Carolina native, came from Sherman, Texas, to become pastor of First Baptist in May 1921. Dr. Brown preached for two years at the Gay Street church, for 6 months in the Bijou Theater and then twenty-two years at the present Main Avenue location, His twenty-five years as pastor is the longest tenure of any First Baptist pastor.

Dr. Brown found First Baptist free of debt, but with a depleted treasury. Reports show the 1920 budget was $16,300 and total membership 1,150. There was a twelve- member choir with Mrs. Walter Eppes as both organist and choir director. The annual picnic was held at Chilhowee Park that year on a Thursday afternoon. For some ten years before Dr. Brown came, even back during the pastorate of Rev. Egerton, there had been talk of enlarging the church or building on another site. The church had bought and sold several pieces of property looking for the best location. Within a few months after Dr. Brown arrived, a building committee was appointed. In September 1921 the lot on the corner of Walnut and Main was purchased. This was McClung family property that had been the location of an old jail and a military prison during the Civil War.

In the fall of 1921 with only tentative plans made for the new church and no idea of the actual final cost, members at a Wednesday evening prayer meeting began making substantial pledges. Sixty-nine names of those first volunteer subscribers were written on the fly leaf of a hymnal that was eventually placed in the cornerstone of the Main Avenue church building. A Fellowship Club was organized with Dr. Brown's leadership. Men of the church and other friends of First Baptist met for lunch or supper at the church on the third Thursday of each month.

With an enrollment of almost 1,400, Sunday School classes continued to be held outside the church, and classes to train new teachers were organized. Oldest members of the Sunday School faculty in point of service at this time were Mrs. Fred Roberts and Rev. J. Pike Powers. In 1922, in the Gay Street church, Mrs. Laura Formwalt began giving the sermon in sign for a young deaf couple. This grew into an organized Sunday School class for the deaf and a lasting ministry for First Baptist.

The cornerstone for the new church was laid in June 1923. The inscription reads: THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD, THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF TRUTH. First Timothy 3:13. A crowd of four hundred and fifty people, representing all congregations in the city, attended the ceremony. The program lasted two hours. Chairs were placed in front of an improvised pulpit, and many people sat around on slabs of marble, stood or perched on the wall foundations at the construction site.

An account from the "Knoxville Journal and Tribune" recalls: Dr. E.Y. Mullins, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and president of the Southern Baptist Convention, delivered the sermon. On the platform were Dr. F.F. Brown, pastor of the church, Dr. J.L. Dance, pastor of East Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. A.B. Bowers, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, Captain W.W. Woodruff, John Cruze, John McCoy, Leese Moses and Mrs. Fred Roberts. (The last two were son and granddaughter of John L. Moses, church founder). The organist, Mrs. Walter Eppes, and the choir also participated.

It was at this ceremony that Dr. Brown called First Baptist "the mother of churches" in Knoxville, possibly referring to the number of mission churches First Baptist had started. When the workmen tried to seal the box containing the documents to be preserved in the cornerstone, there was a problem, and it was found that the work would take too much time. The stone was lowered and the cavity left unsealed.

The next morning workmen returned to the site, raised the stone and sealed it properly. Thirty-nine different items were placed in the cornerstone. Items ranged from the 1922 Treasurer's report to a picture of six-month old Robert McGuire Walters".

Previously that same month a small metal box from the cornerstone of the Gay Street church, which had been First Baptist's home for thirty-six years, was opened with a ceremony, as that church was soon to be tom down.

A history of the Cruze family's connection to First Baptist was among the first papers taken from the box and read. Other documents: a city directory of Knoxville in 1886, sealed recollections of W.W. Woodruff and a history of John C. Roundtree's Sunday School Class. Many other newspapers, photographs and histories were taken from the box that night. The content0 of this 1886 cornerstone, in the original box, were placed in the cornerstone of the Main Avenue church, Two years earlier at the Gay Street church J.C. McReynolds had organized a men's Bible class called the Human Interest Bible Class. This group started with seven men and grew to an average attendance of 380 each Sunday.

University of Tennessee Professor Harry Clark first taught the Human Interest Class. When Dr. Brown became pastor, he assumed responsibility for this men's class with continued success. Another large Sunday School class was the U.T. Bible Class especially for students at the University. This class was first taught by W.W. Woodruff, and later by Mrs. Daisy Meek and J.H. Anderson.

As the Main Avenue church structure took shape, the Knoxville News-Sentinel proclaimed: "Knoxville is soon to have one of the most beautiful churches in the entire country. Built from plans secured through competition from designs of leading architects, the magnificent structure rapidly taking shape on West Main Avenue has already been acclaimed by authorities to be a splendid example of ecclesiastical architecture ....The monumental portico composed of six massive stone columns with carved stone capitals provides an approach of great dignity and charm. An elaborate hand carved frieze of garlands and cherubs will serve to add chaste beauty to the otherwise severe exterior. A graceful tower rising majestically above the portico.. ..will serve as an appropriate pinnacle for such a noble structure."

The church cost approximately $600,000 and required 150 workmen nearly a year to build. It provided seats for 1,200 (with room for another 200 chairs) in the sanctuary and space for 2,685 in Sunday School. It was designed by Dougherty and Gardner of Nashville. Worsham Brothers of Knoxville was the contractor. The construction was supervised by J.P. Gaut, M.W. Egerton, J.H. Brakebill and F F. Brown.

Four local banks made loans secured by church members' pledges. J.H. Anderson negotiated a quarter-ofa-million dollar loan from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, which records show was the first large loan this insurance company had ever made to a Protestant church. The cross above the portico was unusual for a Baptist church. Stained glass windows were not a typical Baptist tradition either, but the compromise was to make the stained glass in earth tones that "harmonizes most effectively with the warmth of the subtle coloration throughout the sanctuary."

Mrs. Fred Brown chose the three Bible verses that are inscribed along the sides of the sanctuary: "I am the Resurrection and the Life", "Holy Holy Holy Is the Lord of Hosts" and "Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock."

The large chandelier hanging from the center of the dome in the octagonal auditorium was the gift of Mrs. Cecil H. Baker in appreciation of her husband. There were many other memorials46. The marble panel over the central door in the front vestibule was the gift of the congregation to honor John L. and James C. Moses. Equipment for several Sunday School classes was given by Joe Mabry and Mrs. J.B. Jones.

The church organ was given by Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Anderson in memory of their daughter, Mary Anderson McClellan. The organ was considered at that A. Roberts (great-granddaughter) and William Moses Roberts (great-grandson). There were no descendants of James Moses on the church roll.

Formal opening of the new church was September 7, 1924. Church services had been held in the Bijou Theater while the building was under construction. The official opening was a week-long celebration with preaching every night, except Wednesday when Frank Nelson played an organ recital. The Woman's Missionary Society held an all-day prayer service on Friday. Fifteen years later on April 2, 1939, this church was fully paid for and dedicated debt free.

A census of Knoxville's churches taken on January 31, 1925, indicated how large and diversified the city was becoming. An 1868 survey had found thirteen congregations in the city: four Presbyterian (three white, one black), three Methodist (two white, one black), two Baptist (one white, one black), two Episcopalian, one Roman Catholic and one Jewish. At that time the city's population was just over 8,000. Now, fifty-seven years later, the city population was about 90,000, and there were 134 churches. Knoxville's largest church in 1925 was First Baptist with a membership of 1,812. In 1924 First Baptist Church had its own radio station, WFBC, which was operated by University of Tennessee student St. John Reynolds. The broadcast, heard in 22 states for the-next seven years, was underwritten by Mrs. J.B. Jones as a memorial to her mother, Mrs. J.S. Hall. This is all the more remarkable when you realize the very first radio broadcasting in the United States began just four years before station WFBC was started. WDKA (Pittsburg) and `0C/WJ (Detroit) were the first in 1920. In 1931 government regulations made it necessary for WFBC to either broadcast full time or give up the station. All the equipment and the license were sold to WNOX in return for their agreement to broadcast the church's Sunday School, morning and evening services for two years without charge. On Tuesday morning, August 23, 1927, letters one-foot high in red paint were discovered defacing First Baptist Church. 1 said: "God is a Fake" and "Sacco and Vanzetti are Martyrs." Sacco and Vanzetti had been executed in Boston early that Tuesday morning after being convicted as anarchists. Police stayed on guard at the church and "searched as a precaution against the possibility of hidden bombs. Either no clues were left or all had been obliterated by the curious crowd." The News-Sentinel offered a $100 reward for the arrest and conviction of the "person or persons who defaced the First Baptist Church."

By 1928 the University of Tennessee had become an important part of Knoxville's economy as well as a social and cultural institution. Enrollment was over 5,000 when regular session, summer sessions for teachers and extension work were counted.

But by 1929 Knoxville's economy had slowed. Knoxville had experienced strong growth for the sixty-five years following the Civil War, but a prosperity built on railroads and wholesale merchandising began to fade.

Times were hard in 1930, and the WMU at First Baptist responded by maintaining a clothes closet for the needy. Mission gifts collected by the WMU that year were $13,777.66. Knoxville by 1930 had the look of an industrial center with 350 manufacturing plants employing 18,000 people. Railroad and machine shops, textile, marble and lumber mills poured black smoke from coal-burning furnaces and filled the city air with oily black soot. Knoxville took on the grimy look which for many years was one of its most remarkable physical characteristics. One product of the depression in Knoxville was the rise of federal government activities in the area, mainly the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge. Knoxville had little to do with establishing TVA or controlling its development. Knoxville had even less to do with the mysterious new defense plant a few miles away in Oak Ridge. It seems hard to believe now, but it wasn't until 1942, years after the beginning of Oak Ridge, that Knoxville learned about the manufacture of enriched uranium. By 1945 Oak Ridge was two-thirds the size of Knoxville with a population of 75,000.

In July 1931 First Baptist gave Dr. Brown a year's leave of absence to travel as Executive Secretary of the Promotion Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. The following year he was elected president of the Convention. Illness, however, prevented him from presiding in 1933, so it is unique that he was a president who never presided. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened in 1934 much to the delight of numerous civic groups who had been working for years to purchase this wilderness from the lumber companies and other private owners and return it to the public as a park. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke at the dedication on September 2, 1940, and Dr. Fred Brown was beside him on the platform to give the invocation. � Minutes for a 1932 Woman's Missionary Union meeting record that the group was once again underwriting expenses for a black delegate to attend the Bible Conference at Knoxville College. Two changes in the organization: the WMU was for the first time divided into "circles" and for the first time the president received an expense account. Five dollars a month was allotted Mrs. Wayne Longmire, the 1932 president.

After 15 years at First Baptist at age 53, Dr. Brown received a call to the First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Knoxville congregation rallied to hold him in Knoxville. One newspaper carried an editorial, "Keep Doctor Brown." After two weeks of suspense, Dr. Brown announced at a morning worship service that he would stay in Knoxville. Before he had even finished his statement, the choir and the congregation burst into song, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow...." Church records show the church had a resident membership in 1938 of 2,300. Sunday School, with A.C. Bruner as Superintendent, had an average attendance of 1,000 each Sunday. April 2, 1939, fifteen years after the first service in the Main Avenue First Baptist Church, Dedication Services° were held. A large crowd gathered at 10:45 AM to watch as J.P. Gaut, Building Committee Chairman, burned the note. The last payment of $1,500 had been made on a debt which once totaled $600,000. Rev. Carter Helm Jones, who had been First Baptist's pastor from 1889 to 1893, came from the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Virginia, to speak along with Dr. Brown at the Dedication Service.

During the summer of 1941 the congregation vacated the sanctuary for six weeks while it underwent painting and renovation. The return to the newly decorated sanctuary was celebrated as a service honoring the church's older members. A quartet, whose combined ages totaled 333 years, was featured. They were: W.E. Parry (76), M.E. Parmelee (89), J.V. Bonnell (80) and Philip Francis (88). Ninety-four-year-old Mrs. Comelia McCullen was the church's oldest member at this time, both from the standpoint of age and years of membership.� � In 1943 First Baptist celebrated its 100th anniversary. Sunday School enrollment was approximately 1,800. A fully graded Training Union 48 was active as well as a vigorous Woman's Missionary Union. Under Dr. Brown's leadership the Men's Fellowship Club was meeting regularly. Church membership was recorded at 2,600 with 200 men and women in the armed forces. A drive was underway by 1944 to build East Tennessee Baptist Hospital, and First Baptist Church led the way. Henry Blanc, Mrs. R.L. Harris and M. Mahan Suter chaired the primary committees. No federal money was sought or desired. The hospital was built by Baptists and their friends in East Tennessee at a cost of over two and a half million dollars. It was this same year that Ed Hamilton extended the music program of the church to include junior choirs which met Sunday afternoons, as well as the adult choir.

During the long years of World War II, over 200 members of First Baptist Church served in the armed forces. Dr. Brown led the church in a continuing effort to keep in touch with each one with both personal letters and printed material. Servicemen's names and addresses were regularly printed in the bulletin along with news of their activities. First Baptist had three chaplains in the armed forces: Rev. Oren Bishop, Lt. Richard Huff and Lt. Leonard Richardson.

In 1945 the Southern Baptist Convention called off its annual meeting at the request of the government agency in charge of transportation. So the Knox County Association of Baptists held a meeting in Knoxville in May. State and area leaders attended. First Baptist Church served as host. It was in November of this year that the News-Sentinel ran a front page story stating that an ordinance to allow Sunday movies had been passed by the City Council and was scheduled for a second reading at the next meeting. Seven prominent pastors in the city, including Dr. F.F. Brown, protested to City Council that this issue had already been turned down by the citizens of Knoxville in a previous vote and suggested that another referendum be held before Sunday movies were made legal.

�Never physically strong during his long pastorate, Dr. Brown retired on his 25th anniversary as First Baptist pastor. In March 1946 a 28 member Pulpit Committee was named. For the first time, eighteen members of this committee were women.

In October of that year, the church called Rev Henry J. Stokes°. During his six years at First Baptist, Rev. Stokes launched programs for mission work with the underprivileged who lived along the riverfront. Ross Reeder's Sunday School class spearheaded this inner-city mission work. Sheriff Hazen Kreis and Dave Davies worked with Ross Reeder in early efforts to attract the riverfront children to a Sunday School class held in what is now the Share and Care Center.

At one time Sheriff Kreis would drive his car through the South Knoxville waterfront neighborhoods on Sunday morning picking up children for Sunday School, and then deliver them back home when Sunday School was over.

Miss Jessie Parmelee, newly retired from a career as a home missionary in southern Louisiana, came to the church as a mission worker in 1947. In the beginning she worked largely with the teenage girls and parents of these riverfront children.

For the first time First Baptist scheduled nursery care for the members' youngest children during Sunday School and worship services, morning and evening, Starting with the youngest infants, there were to be four age groups.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of Laura Formwalt's work with the deaf at First Baptist was recognized. More than one hundred members were at this time in the deaf class, working in three groups: Sunday School, Training Union and Missionary Society.

Records show that the Sunday morning service was broadcast over WNOX each Sunday for a month in 1947. There were 200 children in Vacation Bible School and 104 at the Woman's Missionary Union meeting. Sunday School had a banner day with 1,267 present. �Fifty Baptist churches participated in an all-day study meeting for missionaries at First Baptist. Forty-five Southern Baptist missionaries came from all over the world for a day of intensive training.

In 1949 the Deacon Board first considered the adoption of a rotation plan for deacon service. Current deacons appointed for life would continue as called, but new deacons would be appointed on a rotation schedule. A similar plan was adopted eight years later.

The refusal of the deacons to adopt the rotation plan, along with a dwindling membership brought about by a swing to suburban churches, caused a sharp conflict to develop between the church deacons and the pastor. Dr. Stokes resigned in anger at the Sunday morning service in November 1949. The calm leadership of Assistant Pastor John G. Clark and the efforts of several church members resulted in a public reconciliation, and the resignation was withdrawn. Under Rev. Stokes' direction, the church library had a new and official status. This was celebrated with a formal opening in a much improved location next to the office. One hundred fifty two books were catalogued.

The committee for this newly organized library was: Miss Belle Lazenby, Mrs. Fred V. Brown, Mrs. A.L. Kennedy, Dr. J.A. Thackston and Mrs. Harry Williams. Miss Ruth Ringo and Miss Estelle Brewer, both trained librarians, assisted with cataloging.

As early as 1845 the church had a library of books furnished mostly by the American Baptist Sunday School Union. In 1871 church records show that one hundred dollars of the money raised at the Strawberry Festival was used to purchase a Sunday School library.

�In 1919 Miss Laura Tittsworth was working to build the Sunday School library and asking for books to be donated. But now the church library had a budget, a permanent home and Miss Lazenby serving as librarian. When the library celebrated its second anniversary in 1953 there were almost one thousand books on the shelves. Four years later the total was over eighteen hundred books.

Statistics of interest: Church budget in 1951 was $137,780. Church choirs were active with 54 members in the adult choir, 24 in the youth choir and 36 in the junior choir. Over 50 young men from the First Baptist congregation served in the armed forces during the Korean War.

In 1952 Carlotta McCoy Eppes resigned as organist, with the church's deep appreciation and tribute. Mrs. Eppes had been organist for First Baptist for 42 years, starting in 1910 in the Gay Street church. Mary Eleanor Jones (Pickle) became organist in May.

Rev. Stokes resigned in 1952 to become pastor of the First Baptist Church of Macon, Georgia. An eighty-six member pulpit committee was appointed to search for a new pastor.