Look Back ... to a new home for Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Jan. 12—Jan. 12, 1948, in The Star: A photo on the sports page mentions that Billy Wyatt is the captain and "only experienced member" of the Anniston High School varsity basketball team this season. He is, the caption states, the player on which Bulldog fans are resting their hopes for success in a tough cage schedule. Also this date: Colonial Chapel funeral home, at the corner of 19th and Noble, advertises that it has added "another new Buick" to its fleet of vehicles. "By calling 666 you get a new car with men experienced to take care of you," the ad states.
Jan. 12, 1998, in The Star: Bethel Missionary Baptist Church opened its gleaming new $1.2 million sanctuary with its first service yesterday. Solutia Inc. (formerly Monsanto) paid to build the church after discovering PCBs on the old church property more than two years ago. The congregation's former red-brick church, situated about a mile away, had been set to undergo a renovation in 1994 when Rev. W. S. Fields contacted Monsanto on concerns that nearby properties had been contaminated. Company officials advised him to hold off on expensive renovation work until land could be tested for contamination. Sure enough, it was, and by November 1995 Monsanto was negotiating to find the church a new location. Formal dedication services for the sanctuary will be March 1.
