image courtesy lindenwood christian church
This was to be the “temporary” sanctuary for Lindenwood. Original plans for the new campus show a traditional architectural style that bears no resemblance to the church today.
Dear Vance: Did Lindenwood Christian Church form when two other churches — one of them named Linden, the other named Wood — merged in the 1930s? — K.G., Memphis.
Dear K.G.: I’m halfway sorry to tell you the answer is no — but only halfway, because the Linden part has credibility, and I’ll get to that shortly. But I wanted to say that I’ve been asked this question before, though with a variation: “Was Lindenwood named for an older church, whose pastor was named Wood?” And the answer to that is also: No.
“That is a myth that has been around for years, and keeps getting repeated,” says the Rev. Geoffrey Mitchell, senior minister at Lindenwood Christian Church, the modern complex at Union and East Parkway. “There just doesn’t seem any way to stop it.”
Well, I’ll take the blame. In our April 2014 issue, I discussed Trent Wood, the popular host of the WMC-TV children’s show Looney Zoo. In my rambling paid-by-the-word style, I mentioned that Trent was the oldest son of the Rev. Howard Thomas Wood, the pastor of Linden Avenue Christian Church. So far, so good. But then I wrote, “When [his] church moved to Union and East Parkway, the congregation decided to honor their much-beloved pastor by incorporating his name into the new church: Lindenwood.”
They did no such thing. But nobody corrected me. Nobody suggested I lay off the Kentucky Nip. And so, over the years, my half-dozen readers spread the story around the globe that the church’s name was a tribute to their long-time minister. As it turns out, the “wood” was just a coincidence.
Here’s the real story: “For years, we had been searching for a larger property,” says the Rev. Mitchell, “and in the 1940s we came across a heavily wooded lot on East Parkway. Since the new church would no longer be located on Linden Avenue, we decided to change the name and incorporate ‘wood’ into the new name of our church to reflect its new setting.”
Although you’d never know it from the distinctly modern style of the present-day buildings, Lindenwood is actually one of the oldest congregations in our city. According to the official church history, in fact, “Only two church edifices in Memphis antedate Linden Avenue. Calvary Episcopal was built in 1841, and St. Peter’s Catholic Church in 1852. Our church was erected in 1859.”
Some sources claim the church, a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination, can trace its origins back to 1837, when members assembled in a home on present-day Front Street and later moved into an empty schoolhouse nearby. The actual history, though, probably starts with a real church building, and that indeed took place in 1859, with a handsome brick sanctuary erected on Linden Street, as it was called in those days, at a cost of $22,000. The interior was barely finished when the Civil War put further construction on hold.
The church served as a hospital for Union soldiers during the war as well as for patients suffering from yellow fever during the dreadful epidemics of the late 1800s. At some point, when things settled down, a church history says that members decided to add square towers to the front corners, “to add dignity and give it a more churchy look.” Based on old renderings, their plans succeeded.
Over the years, the congregation expanded, with numerous ministers leading the flock, as they say. The “churchy” building, at the southeast corner of Linden and Mulberry, became a neighborhood landmark, standing out from the small homes and boarding houses that surrounded it.
In 1937, the Rev. Howard Thomas Wood, who had previously served as pastor at churches in Kentucky and Texas, came to Memphis with his wife, Jennie. After being here only a few years, Wood published an essay called “Tomorrow” in a church bulletin. In it, he noted that “our pioneer ancestors built well, in the very heart of Memphis, but now we are outgrowing the present facility.”
He envisioned “a new, modern church building with all appointments and equipment,” and he certainly had big dreams, predicting “a great cosmopolitan church of 5,000 members, fully staffed with missionaries in the foreign field, and a great Bible School of at least 1,000 members.”
With World War II underway, these grand plans had to wait, but in 1945, church officials purchased eight acres of undeveloped land on East Parkway. For years the only hint of the church to come was a fancy wrought-iron sign telling motorists, “Future Home of Linden Avenue Christian Church.”
But by the 1950s, church officials invited designers to submit plans, the main requirement being a campus in the Southern Colonial style. The new church started with only two buildings — a “temporary” sanctuary (shown here) and an education building — but the Building Fund Committee had obviously been hard at work, managing to raise the astonishing sum of $825,000, so big plans were in store.
In 1953, a church history announced, “The great transition took place, and in October Linden Avenue Christian Church became Lindenwood Christian Church.” Other buildings went up, but at some point, church members decided to embrace a more modern style of architecture. In fact, the Rev. Mitchell says it was his understanding that church members fretted Lindenwood might look too much like First Baptist Church, an imposing edifice just up the street at East Parkway and Poplar.
photograph by vance lauderdale
The modern sanctuary was dedicated in 1966.
For whatever reason in the dramatic change in design, it’s doubtful anyone would confuse the two churches today. The main sanctuary, dedicated in 1966, is decidedly modern with a flat roof, narrow steeple, a single row of relatively small stained-glass windows, and a row of unadorned cast-concrete columns, linked at the top with arches. The building looks quite fine, but I suspect the members of the old place on Linden wouldn’t think it looks “ churchy” enough.
If you ask me, the most stunning feature of Lindenwood is found inside — the Golightly Memorial Pipe Organ, installed in 1966 as a gift from the Golightly family, longtime church members. Built by the famous Moller Company of Maryland, it originally had more than 3,500 pipes — each hand-crafted of fine wood, brass, and tin alloys. The largest of these is 32 feet long, and the smallest is only three-eighths of an inch. Now, you’d think that could handle any kind of music ever written , but the church website (lindenwoodcc.org) explains later enhancements better than I can:
“In June 2001, the Golightly Memorial Trompette en Chamade was added, as was the Carolyn Sellers Sharpe Grand Facade, giving the stunning visual on the chancel wall. The pipes are flamed copper (12 pipes), polished zinc (20 pipes), and polished copper (61 pipes.) The latest additions included the installation of a viole celeste, English diapason, nachthorn, French horn, and English horn on the choir; a montre, clarinet, harmonic flute, 16’ violone, and an 8’ and 16’ trumpet on the great; renovation of the Iona F. Reed Memorial Harp; as well as preparations for the ultimate completion of over 90 ranks.”
The Lauderdales have a proud history of musical accomplishments, with our mantel lined with dusty trophies saluting my oboe recitals at the Mid-South Fair talent shows, but I confess I don’t know what these features mean. Still, after seeing (and hearing) the mighty Golightly, I left the sanctuary thinking that perhaps it’s time to replace the Happy Hal xylophone in the hallway of the Mansion with something a bit more impressive.
The Rev. Howard Thomas Wood — called Tom by everyone who knew him — passed away in 1980, after serving as Lindenwood’s pastor for 31 years. His son, Trent, eventually moved to Oklahoma where he traded a career in broadcasting for one in banking. He passed away in 2014, but it’s obvious his family had strong ties with the church where his father worked so many years.
After all, Trent named one of his sons Linden. That’s right: Linden Wood. How many people today, I wonder, name their children after their church?
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