Barnes Temples Story Barnes Temple AME Church, Elsmere, Kentucky Historical Note: The area we now know as Elsmere was, in those days, called South Erlanger, the Woodside Subdivision. In the fall of 1896, Rev. Daniel W. Ellison, a circuit-riding minister who was preaching a revival at Florence, Kentucky visited in the town of Erlanger, Kentucky. During his visit he envisioned the possibility of a Methodist Church in the small community of Erlanger, and felt that there was strong evidence of chances for advancement and growth. The seeds for the organization of an African Methodist Episcopal Church were sown in the winter of 1896, just after Christmas, when Rev. Ellison and his followers started going from house to house for prayer service. After doing this for several weeks, they began to hold service in the old railway station at Woodside, where Rev. Ellison and his followers founded and organized the first Africa Methodist Episcopal Church. After a revival was held, the first candidates for baptism were baptized, one by sprinkling, and the others by immersion, in a public pond alongside the Southern Railroad at the end of Vine and Wells Streets. The church served its first communion at the old railroad station where service was being held. Rev. Ellison pastored the church for about two years after its organization. The church began to grow steadily and prospered, but when Rev. Ellison left, things came to a stand still. The church was without a pastor until one stalwart soldier, Rev. Wade, who was serving in Covington, KY came out about once every three months to hold service, hoping to keep the church together. Rev. Upshaw, who was the Presiding Elder assigned to this area by the Kentucky Conference, came to hold service, but his visits were very widely spaced. The Church moved many times after starting at the Woodside Depot. It moved from the railroad station to a dwelling on Spring Street, then to a dwelling on Shaw Street. From there it moved to the Bittle House on Fox Street, almost in its present location, and then to a small cottage at the north end of Palace Avenue. It was at the Palace Avenue location that the Church started making plans to obtain the present site on Fox Street and the property was donated to the congregation by the Carneal family. There have been four buildings on the Fox Street site. The first church, a small frame building, was built under the leadership of Rev. C. E. Carson about 1905 or 1906. Membership grew and expansion was necessary. Under the pastorate and leadership of Rev. Charles Hann, the frame building was enlarged, remodeled, and named Hanns Chapel. This building was destroyed in a disastrous fire in 1934, while the pastor, Rev. William Bunkley, was at conference. At that conference in October of 1934, Rev. H. L. Barnes was assigned to Erlanger and served here for four years. Under his leadership a stone structure was started in 1935, with most of the labor being furnished by the men of the church and the community. The cornerstone for the building was laid in 1936 and the church became known as Barnes Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church. The building was completed during the pastorate of Rev. O. H. Huggins, who pastored Barnes Temple for eleven years, and after four years of serving elsewhere, returned to Barnes Temple. This stone structure also served as a schoolroom for Black students in the Erlanger-Elsmere area. The Erlanger-Elsmere Board of Education was permitted to use the church as a classroom for first, second and third grade students from 1940 through the spring of 1948. After worshipping in this structure for many years, the building was determined to be unsafe and was demolished. Under the pastorate of Rev. Robert E. Mitchell, the foundation for the present structure was laid and the shell erected. During the pastorate of Rev. Edgar L. Mack, an architect was hired and construction of the building was completed in 1965. But there was still much to be done.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 03:41:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015