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05078
February 8, 2005
Historic Presbyterian church burns in Knoxville
Congregation to rebuild but calling school home for now
by Evan Silverstein
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LOUISVILLE — A fire late last month destroyed most of a historic Presbyterian church in Knoxville, TN, prompting members to hold worship services at a nearby elementary school while congregational leaders focus on rebuilding.
Some 50 members of the Knoxville Fire Department were dispatched to fight the two-alarm blaze at New Prospect Presbyterian Church in South Knoxville around 8 p.m. on Jan. 26.
The Rev. Don Grady, pastor of the 60-member church since April, told the Presbyterian News
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A two-alarm fire last month collapsed the roof of historic New Prospect Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, TN.
Photos by Brenda Ballard
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Service that about 90 percent of the red brick building is gone. |
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“It’s certainly unusable,” he said of the remains of the church. “The roof of the sanctuary collapsed . . . but the wing that had the library and two Sunday school rooms was relatively undamaged. But, like I said, nothing is usable.”
Grady said New Prospect church will rebuild. Tentative plans call for possibly erecting a new building at the same location or on 15 acres of church-owned property across the street.
The fire apparently started in a light fixture in the sanctuary. Arson inspectors have examined the church’s charred remains and do not suspect foul play.
“I am personally convinced that it was an electrical failure and not arson,” said Grady, who was present at the time. Choir members first noticed the smell, but continued practicing. “We smelled burning insulation for about an hour and a half,” Grady said. “Then we looked up at the ceiling, and it was glowing.”
Don Stansberry, 71, a New Prospect church member since age 12, was the first to spot the glowing light fixture, the initial sign of trouble.
“We didn’t even know it was burning until we got outside and saw flames shoot out the end of the church,” Stansberry said. “That was a shock. It was a terrible feeling.”
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Items saved from the fire piled outside the church. |
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The fire, which smoldered on for hours after being brought under control, forced a handful of church members out into the cold night to watch firefighters battle the blaze.
When firefighters first arrived they tried to remove a cap from a hydrant, but they couldn’t budge the screw‑on metal cap. They resorted to tapping two smaller caps on the same hydrant to fill their hoses, but this meant losing valuable time to fight the fire.
“We had to run longer lines, and by the time we had enough water pressure the fire was coming through the roof,” Charlie Barker, spokesman for the Knoxville Fire Department, told a Knoxville newspaper.
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The hydrant malfunction is under investigation.
Had it not been for the hydrant problem, “it’s possible we would have saved the pews,” Grady said. “We would have saved probably a lot of stuff in the church office.”
The church is one of Knoxville’s oldest religious institutions, tracing its roots back to 1834. A fire destroyed the church in 1925 and was rebuilt at the same location later that year.
The church was able to salvage its pulpit, which was from the original 1830s church building. Also saved were the church’s new baptismal font and a substantial number of church records, which had been stored in a fireproof box.
Support has come from other churches, which have donated prayer books and offered their buildings, a piano and an organ since the blaze consumed most of New Prospect Presbyterian Church.
The congregation, however, has instead transformed an activity room at nearby Andersonville Elementary School in South Knoxville into New Prospect’s temporary home.
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