It seems that Memphis was always known as the "City of Churches" or "City of 1000 Churches."  Yet that wasn't always the case.  The earliest settlers - frontiersmen, gamblers, and river men, certainly had little time to devote to religion.  This was a rowdy town and they were far more interested in liquor and the numerous local brothels.  But as more settlers began arriving, religion became respectable, and the first religious congregations began meeting in private homes.  During the middle 19th century, churches of every denomination were being built - one more grand than the other.  As more and more churches were established, the saying "A church on every corner" became very popular, with folks in later years adding "...and a gas station on the other corner."  By the beginning of the 20th century, Downtown Memphis was well established with a distinguished group of 90 churches and synagogues that presented a dignified profile to the city's landscape.  Today, fewer than 20 of these churches remain.  Like so much of the Downtown area, many of these early historical architectural gems have become part of "Lost Memphis."

This page will not include all of those "1000 churches".  Only a selection of the historic churches in the downtown area, and  a few in the mid-town area will be featured.  If you have information and a photo of any church that should be included please contact Gene Gill <gene.gill@verizon.net>

Anshei Mischne Synagogue   ... 112 Jackson Av

The Memphis Jewish Community dates back to 1840 when immigrant German Jews came to the city as peddlers from New Orleans and St. Louis.  Among these early immigrants were the Goldsmith's and the Lowenstein's who opened small shops and eventually became leading merchants.  Most of the early Jewish immigrants settled into the Pinch District.  The first Synagogue was established in 1853 in a bank building on Market Square and soon many additional synagogues began to dot The Pinch.   The congregation of this Synagogue  broke away from  another synagogue in 1900 and built

<= Bellevue Baptist is now located at I-40 and Appling in Cordova and is known to truckers of the area as "Mile Marker - Fort God."  The church moved here in 1989.

"We were members for 35 years - of the old, but not the oldest Bellevue.  But I did go to the oldest Bellevue to hear Dr. Lee preach, and also for BTYU (Baptist Training Youth Union).  We, as a young group from Hollywood Churches, would board a bus to Bellevue and attend BTYU (party time), and then skip around the corner to the drug store and be back on the steps of the church when the church services were over."        - Elaine McAdams

and B'nai Israel ... Children of Israel ... Temple Israel ... Baron Hirsh ... Anshei Sphard

Orthodox Jews need to be within walking distance of their synagogue in order to adhere to traditional strictures against driving or riding on the Sabbath.  Thus there have been numerous mergers, synagogue name changes, etc. as congregations migrated from their original "Pinch" locations.   The changes are far too complex to cover on a page like this.

Children -Israel

Calvary Episcopal church was consecrated in 1844 and is the oldest Memphis Building in continuous use.  The design was by Rev Philip Alston, the minister, who was an amateur architect.  There were renovations in 1881 and the building has remained virtually unchanged since that time.  It was once covered with a stucco veneer which, in 1961 was removed from the outer walls to expose the clay bricks that were underneath.

Vintage Photo at Calvary   

Central Baptist Church  ...  2nd Street, between Beale-Gayoso

This structure stood above all others.  Built by Edward Culliatt Jones between 1868-85, the church was best known for it's 125 foot steeple - the tallest in the city.  Central Baptist was demolished in 1937.  For many years the lot was used for a gas station and parking lot.  Today, there's a parking garage built for Peabody Place in the 1990s.

Without steeple

Interior

Edw C.  Jones

Location

Clayborn Temple   ...  280 Hernando at Pontotoc

This building housed the Second Presbyterian Church until it was sold to the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1949 and the name changed to Clayborn Temple.  After the name change, the church became an important center for the black community during the Civil Rights Movement.  Martin Luther King spoke at Clayborn several times and the sanitation worker marches started and ended there.  The Temple has been inactive since the 1980s, and was originally on the market for one million dollars - later reduced to $600,000.  It is now being renovated and is scheduled to reopen in 2017 ... and a new "I Am A Man" plaza is being built next to it.  (See Second Presbyterian  - below)

This is the oldest African American religious congregation in Memphis, dating back to 1841, when parishioners of First United Methodist at 2nd and Poplar, invited a group of slaves to join Sunday services.  Four years later the number of blacks at the church grew to over 500 and the church deeded its basement to them for separate services.  By 1859 the congregation purchased this lot on Washington and held services outdoor  until the chapel was built in 1860.   It was named for the Rev J. T. C. Collins, the congregations white minister.  Over the years, the congregation has included civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells, and W. C. Handy.

         1951-1959

First Beale St Baptist

Edw C. jones

The beautiful church was built around 1911, across from Forrest Park.  The building was sold to the UT Medical Center, who demolished the building in 1961 to build a new structure for their Medical Center.

1911

Sunday School

First Preacher

First Pastor

John Pepper

1891

1906

History - 1985

Postcard

Certificate 1900s

1915

A souvenir booklet "The Evolution of a Sunday School" (below) was published in 1924 to celebrate the opening of the Pepper Memorial Sunday School Building next to the First Methodist Church.  The Pepper Building suffered smoke and water damage in the 2006 fire but is still in use.  This very rare booklet is posted in its entirety below:                                                              ... Collection of Dave French.                                                                

Grace St. Luke's has seven extraordinary Tiffany stained glass windows dating back to 1889.  That year, one of the benefactors of the Grace Church, Mrs. W. A. Gage, met a Tiffany Glass representative at the Paris Exposition, and personally underwrote three windows, including the glorious window depicting Christ's ascension.  The church commissioned four more windows during the building of it's new church.  All the windows were installed under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany himself.  When Grace merged with St. Luke's in 1940, it brought the windows and they were installed throughout the building.  They are the largest collection of Tiffany windows in the south, and prime examples of Tiffany's stained glass art.

Tiffany "Christ's Ascension"

Geo. Awsumb

Founded in 1921.  It was the first African-American congregation in the city of Memphis to belong to the brotherhood of Christian Churches.  This congregation purchased the old Bellevue Baptist Church at 70 N. Bellevue and that has now become their mid-town campus.

1909

Dedication 1893

2nd Presbyterian

1904

E.. C. Jones

The history of this church parallels the history of Memphis.  St. John's began in the downtown area in 1859 as "Central Church Mission".  By the end of the century it was bursting at the seams and the members built this new sanctuary further out on Peabody.  At the same time they chose to affiliate with another denomination, becoming St John's United Methodist Episcopal Church.  The new church opened in 1907.

This church has a long and distinguished history.  It was first known as Bethel Methodist.  In 1888 the church moved to Semmes and Southern and was renamed Buntyn Methodist Church.  Then in 1925 the church moved to its present location and became St. Luke's.  The sanctuary was built in 1930 and the Educational wings were added in 1948 and 1955. 

St. Mary's Catholic Church  ...  155 Market

This church, organized in 1862 to serve the German Catholic population of Memphis, was dedicated in 1870.  Services were conducted in the German language.  A steeple was finally completed in 1901, but was removed shortly afterwards for structural reasons.  The interior was modeled after the interior of St. Peter's, though it is much smaller and more brightly painted.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church is one of the oldest cathedrals in the South.  This church was the Episcopal Cathedral for Tennessee.  It was begun in 1895 and completed in 1920.  The Diocesan House to the left of the church was built in 1902 as the home for the bishop.  St. Mary's was the third parish organized in Memphis, with Calvary in 1832, and Grace in 1853, being Mission Churches.  The marble altar is a memorial to the Episcopal sisters and priests who died in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic.

Original church 1871

Interior

Souvenir Spoon

The church was established in 1866 at the corner of 4th and Linden.  The first St. Patrick was a two story structure with a school on the first floor and the church on the second floor.  From that time on, St. Patrick's has included education as a significant part of its mission. 

This is the oldest Catholic Congregation in Memphis.  Designed by Patrick Keely, the building was begun in 1852.  There was already a church here, so the new building was built around the old.  Upon completion, the older building was broken up and carried through the front door, one piece at a time.  It's a Gothic fortress-like building.  There have been additions and improvements over the life of the church.  St. Peter's became the city's first air-conditioned church in 1934.

The church began in 1902 and purchased the land for their church in 1904.  It's known as a very traditional Southern Baptist Church.

The original group forming the Church of Christ in Memphis first met in homes, but, according to an article in The Christian Chronicle, by Ealon V. Wilson, the small congregation moved to more adequate facilities in The Woman's Building in the late 1890's. Comparatively soon thereafter, it moved into its own building on Gaylord Avenue. The name of the street was later changed to Harbert Avenue.  In 1905, the group moved to this building at 1930 Union Avenue.   The congregation is now Midtown

Union Avenue Methodist

Demolition 2011