If you travel on I-40, you've seen this church. It has a rich history with unclear future

Just below the southeastern side of the Alcoa Highway/Interstate 40 interchange sits a classic-style stone church.

The church not only stands out to passing motorists among the blander-looking industrial structures, but it also hints that a residential neighborhood was likely there before the interstate came.

The church started as Euclid Avenue Baptist and was later Greater First Church of God in Christ, but now it sits empty after being sold in recent months to a developer. Efforts to find more information about the plans for the property proved unsuccessful, but some small information on its history was found.

A few old newspaper clippings found at the McClung Historical Collection downtown say that the once-thriving Euclid Avenue Baptist Church started in 1900 with nine people. One account said they met early in a neighborhood cottage and another in a Marble City store, but they soon chartered as West Knoxville Baptist Church.

In 1905, they built a wooden frame church at Euclid Avenue and 24th Street on the Alcoa Highway side of the current church structure. About this time the name was changed to Euclid Avenue Baptist Church.

Membership was once 1,500

The church grew quickly in its early decades, as a Knoxville newspaper article from 1934 said the membership had reached 1,500. “Everybody is welcome, and never a service passes that those present are not given an opportunity to repent and start life anew,” said the story.

Euclid Avenue Baptist Church continued to grow, and on March 12, 1950, it held its first service in the current building.

While one article from that time does not reveal the architect or contractor, it offers such other details as that the Tennessee marble used for the sanctuary exterior and adjoining meeting rooms and offices was cut by members. It said they had worked at night for two years prepping the stone. The interior featured walnut trim and stained-glass windows.

Both the early church and the current building uniquely featured small metal dome-shaped bell towers. When the newer church opened, the older church was dismantled, and its top was sold for use by a church in Anderson County. The 40 choir chairs were purchased for Alice Bell Baptist Church.

Structure purchaser Newman Burns, meanwhile, said he would use some of the materials for a home on Forest Heights Drive and to expand his appliance business on West Fifth Avenue.

Suburban growth, interstate construction

The church remained vibrant through the mid-decades but faced the typical urban challenges that many churches on the periphery of downtown faced when suburban growth began.

The 1960s interstate freeway construction cut off much of the area surrounding it, although the building was spared.

An early 1970s’ church history said its membership by that time was just under 600, but that it had a thriving bus ministry, with some 200 attendees brought to church on an average Sunday.

The decline in membership must have continued, even though the church survived a serious fire in 1980. By the late 1990s, the church had merged with another congregation to form Shepherd of the Hills Baptist Church at 400 Beaver Creek Drive, just south of East Emory Road near Powell.

What became Greater First Church of God in Christ moved into the former structure at that time and remained there until recent years. A longtime pastor of the COGIC was Dr. Donald Lee Derrickson Sr., who died in August 2020 at the age of 91.

The now-dead-end street in front of the church had been renamed at some point from Euclid Avenue to Donald Lee Derrickson Avenue. It is accessible these days only from Sutherland Avenue.

In December 2021, the property was sold to Obsidian Development of Troy, Michigan, for $1.1 million, according to Knox County Register of Deeds records. Efforts to contact Obsidian to find out more information for the site and if the old church building would be preserved or razed proved unsuccessful. Obsidian also owns other nearby properties.

Now, a “Keep Out” sign hangs from a classic Greek-style column at the church’s entrance, a sharp contrast to the days when it was home to two churches, and all visitors were said to be welcome.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Euclid Avenue Baptist Church has rich history with unclear future