Since I have little else to do these days (Monday through Friday, plus Saturday and Sunday), I have been closely following the work being done at the building formerly known as Evergreen Presbyterian Church. Acquired by Rhodes College, since it was just across the street from the school on University, the handsome Colonial Revival building is no longer in use as a church. So crews have been working from the top to remove the steeple from the building, all the way down to the roofline, and it really does change the appearance. It looks a bit like a Greek temple.
I could show you a photo of the building as it looks today, to prove my point, but I've got better things to do. Namely, I wanted to share with you some old photos of another equally fine-looking church, erected in the very early 1950s on a spacious campus at Poplar and Goodlett.
I am, or course, talking about Second Presbyterian Church. And just as Evergreen is presently losing its steeple, I found images showing how Second Presbyterian added theirs.
It just so happens that the Lauderdale Library has a complete set of old 35mm color slides showing construction crews putting the finishing touches on this handsome church, by adding the graceful steeple to their sanctuary building, as you can see here.
A Commercial Appeal story noted that the steeple — just the pointiest part you see here being lifted by the tall crane — was cast of bronze and weighed more than 8,500 pounds. So it was indeed, as the paper noted, a "ticklish job" performed by the S&W Construction Company, which had erected the building at an estimated cost of $850,000. This was in the 1950s, remember. I believe the massive church would cost just a bit more today.
The church made a holiday of the occasion, inviting members to pull up lawn chairs and lay out blankets on the afternoon of June 3, 1952, to watch the proceedings. Luckily for everyone involved, it went smoothly (though slowly) and the steeple is still pointing to the heavens today.
Nice job, S&W!
