Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church

In 1811, Rev. Gideon Blackburn organized a Presbyterian church near the city cemetery in Franklin, Tn. In 1842, the congregation built a church on the corner of Main Street and 5th Avenue in downtown Franklin. After the Battle of Franklin, the church, like every other building in the downtown area, became a hospital for the troops. While the war caused a lot of damage to the church, a fire in 1905 destroyed it, requiring reconstruction of the church.

As Franklin grew, so did church membership, and in late 1980s/early 1990s, some members pushed for expansion, which would mean moving out of the historic building. However, in 1992, the members of the church who wanted to stay in the downtown location organized the Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church which still stands on the corner of Main Street and 5th Avenue (above).

The photo I posted of Main Street yesterday shows the north side of the block, looking west. The intersection indicated by the street signs is where the church stands, although it is on the south side of Main Street.

Tomorrow, we'll look at another historic site in Franklin.

6 comments:

FĂ©nix - Bostonscapes said...

Wiki has a neat entry on the Battle of Franklin. It says that the Carter House still shows hundreds of bullet holes and that the spot where General Cleburne fell was covered by a Pizza Hut until 2005!

NorthBayPhoto said...

Great shot.

Do you know why there was a ladder at the top of the churhc? (I didn't notice it until I enlarged the photo) - Were they working on the steeple?

Thanks for visiting my NorthBayPhoto blog. To answer your question - My plane ride photos were taken in mid-September and that is why the golf course still looks green.

quintarantino said...

Very great photo. By the way, I too would love to know about that ladder...

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris, I stumbled on your blog from Sarah D's blog. I live in Frankin and if you ever get a chance to peek inside the Episcopal Church in Downtown do. They have the origional Tiffany stained glass windows and they are beautiful.

Andrea said...

Beautiful. I love old churches and enjoy hearing the history of the churches.

Anonymous said...

There must have been a period of time when most new churches were built and looked like this one. It is a nice style that looks like a church.