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Churches are some of the oldest buildings in the city of Dallas. As important as a church’s historical significance is the community it serves. Some congregants would say that the soul of a church goes beyond its physical structure — though the importance of the buildings themselves should not be overlooked. A church can provide a visible anchor for the community and its loss can stifle the spirit. The churches the city has lost — Elizabeth Chapel, Trinity Methodist Church and Ross Avenue Baptist Church among them — live on only in photographs. To celebrate these irrecoverable treasures, we delved into our archives to find the memories that help bring them back to life.
Elizabeth Chapel
“I hate to see it in this kind of fix. I remember when they had services in there. Cars would be all up and down the street.” — Glen Elsie Glenn, longtime resident of Oak Cliff’s 10th Street Historic District, in 1995 on watching the chapel fall apart.
History
The Gothic Revival-style historic Black church at 1026 E. 10th St. in Oak Cliff, just east of Interstate 35E, allowed drivers a view of its “weathered steeples towering above the trees.”
The original chapel was built in 1889 and replaced in 1910. The church was named for Elizabeth Boswell, wife of Dallas settler Anthony Boswell, a Black wheelwright who settled in Oak Cliff after buying his freedom in Alabama. He helped build the chapel and the surrounding freedmen’s settlement.
The chapel was designated as a historical landmark in 1980. At the time, it was the oldest Black church in Oak Cliff.
What happened
The structure slowly fell into disrepair after its congregation moved out in the 1970s. Many citizens and groups had a desire to restore the building, especially in 1995 when the 10th Street district made the Texas Historical Commission’s list of endangered historic sites. But the roof collapsed later that year in a storm and the chapel was demolished on March 15, 1999, due to safety concerns.
What’s there now
An empty lot, still owned by the church.
Trinity Methodist Church
“Ornate filigree friezes, statuesque gold pipes of the organ and the rich warm glow of … the sanctuary’s chancel clearly mirror the grandeur that once was the hallmark of this stately downtown church.” — Staff writer Helen Parmley describing the church upon its last service in 1974.
History
Trinity Methodist Church, built in 1904 and located at McKinney Avenue and Pearl Street, was Dallas’ first designated landmark building on the National Register of Historic Places. Architects called the church a “masterpiece of Prairie-style architecture.” In 1974, the church’s dwindling population forced it to close its doors. The building was bought by the American Institute of Musical Studies in 1975.
What happened
In 1981, a five-alarm fire gutted the church, which had been vacant for a few months. The antique organ with wooden pipes was consumed by the blaze, and the walls of the church “collapsed in sections under the intense heat and pressures,” according to the dispatcher’s report to The News.
Two months earlier, someone had set a fire in the church basement using “gasoline-drenched rags wrapped around a broom.” Insufficient oxygen in the basement kept the fire from spreading. This prior attempt led to theories and later confirmation of arson in the 1981 fire.
News architecture critic David Dillon expressed hope that the developer who had bought the church two weeks before it went up in flames would rebuild it or integrate what was left into a new development.
Ultimately, however, it was demolished.
What’s there now
Restaurant Sambuca Uptown until it closed in early 2018. The empty restaurant building remains.
Ross Avenue Baptist Church
“The hallmark columns still stood [after the fire], a symbol, church members said, of their resolve to continue to serve the ethnically diverse Old East Dallas neighborhood.” — staff writer Laurie Fox in 2002.
History
The church near Greenville and Ross avenues in East Dallas was originally built in 1917. It was listed as a Texas Historic Landmark in the late 1990s.
The church’s membership was largely middle-income whites in the 1950s and changed over time with the community. By the time of its demolition, the congregation was largely Hispanic with a “handful of aging long-timers,” as reported by staff writer Mark Wrolstad.
What happened
In March 2002, an electrical fire destroyed the building.
Staff writer Laurie Fox reported: “The blaze … raged full-force, stoked to four alarms by high winds. … The jagged view through a window … revealed only sky. The roof that once supported a dome and cross now gaped open to the elements. Pews and pulpit mingled, part of an unrecognizable pile of blackened debris, still steaming from heat.”
A few items survived unscathed: “A brilliant red and gold Communion-table cloth. A gilded mirror and stool. A glass-encased signature book.” The congregation had to move Easter services to an adjacent education building.
The “four-walled shell” of the church remained until the Dallas Landmark Commission narrowly approved a request to raze the structure in 2004.
What’s there now
A Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers fast-food restaurant.
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