Birmingham Churches and Their Cornerstones 61
Often when a church building changes hands, the original cornerstone remains in place. Othertimes it is defaced so it is no longer legible, or a new stone takes its place. In North Birmingham, however, there is a Beaux-Arts Classical church building were the original stone remains and a new one was added on the opposite side of the structure.
The first stone states that 35th Avenue Baptist Church was erected in 1927 when C. C. Walker was the pastor. The stone also lists the name of five members of the building committee and the superintentdent of construction. In Birmingham, this listing of names is more common on African American churches than White ones, but was not uncommon on White Baptist and Protestant churches before about 1950.
By the late 1978, the racial composition of North Birmingham had changed, and the building was purchased by the local Black Baptist association as its headquarters. According to the additionally cornerstone the sale took place forty-five years ago this week on December 7, 1978. The stone was not added unti almost seven years later, and was laid by the Tuxedo Lodge. It lists the many officers of the association headed by the moderator, the noted local Baptist historian, Wilson Fallin. At times the church building has hosted a congregation. When this picture was taken, Liberty Worship Center was meeting in the building.
A year ago, Samford University made many of the photographs in its special collections available online. This includes a picture of the attendees of the Thirty-Fifth Avenue’s Sunday school on its opening day, Easter Sunday, 1928. Click here to see it.
This is the sixtieth-first post in this series. In honor of that I have sent the featured image of it to be a screen shot of the map of the churches. You will see an up-to-date map below. Read this first post for more on this series on Birmingham churches and their cornerstones.
Chasing Churches 