Mount Vernon Methodist Church

Organized in 1884, Mount Vernon Methodist Church is one of the oldest churches in North Birmingham. After first meeting at the home of William M. Owens, they moved to a small frame building located at 33rd Avenue and 22nd Street North. The name, honoring the home of President George Washington, was adopted at the suggestion of Elizabeth Truss.

On the Birmingham circuit, the church was served by the following pastors: A. J. Copeland, G. L. Jenkins, J. W. Carey, George Stoves, C. M. Hensley, W. P. Blevins, and J. L. Ferguson, and became a station in 1902. Reverend J. W. Johnson was appointed as the first pastor. The congregation met on March 8, 1904, to plan for a new brick church. The sum of $2,000 was raised on the spot and a building committee was formed. A site was chosen two blocks away from the original church and more convenient to the North Birmingham Streetcar. R. M. Johnson drew the plans for the new $6,000 building to seat 700 congregants along with three Sunday School rooms. A corner stone was laid at the site on June 26, 1904. The walls were laid of a light-colored “sandstone brick” manufactured by the Birmingham Lime & Cement Company.

Reverend William M. Harris came to the Mount Vernon Methodist Church in 1923 and served the church until 1930. Under his ministry, Mount Vernon Methodist Church borrowed $60,000 to build a new sanctuary and parsonage. Brodie & Sherman began preparing plans for the new buildings in 1927, and by the time construction began in August, the budget had grown to $100,000. Rev. Harris left to serve the Gadsden District in 1930, but returned in 1934 and led a campaign to pay off the church’s outstanding debt.

In 1948, Harris celebrated his 21st year as pastor of Mount Vernon Methodist and built the church membership from 700 to 1,600 members. At that time, it was the longest tenure in the history of any Methodist church in Alabama and one of the longest in the South. In November 1947, he was slated to be transferred to Gadsden as district superintendent, however, church stewards met with the presiding bishop, and Rev. Harris remained at Mount Vernon.

Reverend Harris helped organize the first Lions Club in North Birmingham and was the first club president. He also helped organize the North Birmingham Merchants Association. While at Mount Vernon, he developed a progressive youth character-building program. New chimes were installed in the late 1940s, a gift from three businessmen, J. H. Berry, Jr., A. J. McCurry, and M. B. Huffstutler. Dr. Harris had four children: two sons and two daughters. The two sons, who served in the Army, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical college. The girls were graduates of Birmingham-Southern. One of his daughters was even married at Mount Vernon Methodist in 1948.

In 1957, the Mount Vernon completed a $210,000 youth education building, followed by a $150,000 activities building in 1963. During the next two decades, church membership steadily declined as families moved out of Birmingham. On June 1, 1975, the congregation voted to merge with Gardendale United Methodist Church, which was facing an eventual loss of its building due to Interstate 65. The congregation met in two locations until the new Gardendale Mt Vernon United Methodist Church was completed. The pipe organ and most of the stained glass windows were removed and used in the new church.

The former church building was acquired by Faith, Hope, and Charity Ministries and served as the home of Faith College and the King Kids Academy in the early 1980s. Former Daniel Payne College president J. King Chandler III was shot to death by a man he was giving a ride to after leading a seminar at the building on November 10, 1981. Decades of neglect have left the former church in a severe state of disrepair.

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