Churches are the anchors of a town

BY EDDIE WALKER

When you travel through a town, most any American town, churches are visible, often on the main street or usually not more than a couple of blocks away. These structures are part of the town’s heritage, they say something about the people, and they are attractive visuals to the landscape.

In recent times travel routes have often been changed to avoid the downtown congestion and delays, but think about passing through one of Newport’s surroundings towns – Morristown, Greeneville, Dandridge, Johnson City, Sevierville, Hot Springs, White Pine, Jonesborough and even Knoxville. In each you will see churches of varying designs, sizes, denominations and ages.

Such used to be case in Newport. The business district developed on Main Street along the railroad, but the churches were built one block back on what is now Broadway but at one time was called Church Street. It became the main travel route by the 1890s and then its importance was enhanced in the early 1920s when it became part of the Dixie Highway, which was a planned route to improve travel between the South and the Midwest. The highway through Newport was one of the major east-west routes until the development of the interstate system.

At one time along the Dixie Highway in downtown Newport were the First Baptist Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Episcopal Church and First Christian Church.

Just a half-block over, but still visible, was the Newport Presbyterian Church.

Newport’s oldest church, Pisgah Presbyterian, started out as an exception to the “downtown rule.” When it moved from Oldtown in 1858 and built its church on the Gorman property, there was no town of Newport here. There was just a little hamlet (which is smaller than a village) which later was called “Clifton” and/or “Gorman’s Depot” before it officially became “Newport” in 1884. The Pisgah Church was adjacent to the cemetery that remains across from Walgreens.

Pisgah Presbyterian was used by all the church people. There was a Union Sunday School and then preaching was done by the preacher of whichever denomination happened to be scheduled. In rural areas and small towns, few churches rarely had a regular preacher each and every Sunday in those days.

First Baptist Church was organized in the Pisgah Presbyterian Church in 1876. The congregation continued to meet there until they built their first church in 1877 on the spot used by the congregation until October 2022. The Baptists still participated in the

SEE CHURCHES ON PAGE 8

First Baptist Church 1906 building.

Union Sunday School until 1884 when they formed their own. The other church groups continued using the Presbyterian church on Sundays, but Wednesday night prayer meeting was a Union service at the Baptist church. Traveling “out of town” to the Presbyterian church was harder at night by lantern light.

This early sharing of a building may have been the reason Cocke County churches have usually had such a spirit of cooperation with each other, even if theology and doctrine differed.

A congregation might bicker within its own walls, but rarely with another congregation.

The Southern Methodists built a church in 1885 about 50 yards east and the two branches of Methodism used this building with a Sunday School and alternating preachers until the Northern Methodists built their church in 1892 another 50 yards east. The two merged into one congregation in 1941 and used the Southern building until moving to a new building in 1957.

The Pisgah Presbyterians moved to downtown in 1897 and changed their name to the Newport Presbyterian Church. The Christians built their original church on Church Street in 1921. The present building was erected on the same site in 1928.

Why were churches built in the downtowns? These were common areas and more easily accessible for all persons. Just as business and trades were part of any community, so were the churches, and as previously stated, they said something about a town.

Which one was the best?

Which one was the perfect one? None of them. They were then and are now composed of human beings with all the weaknesses, frailties and fallibilities that the human race has to offer. A local pastor once remarked that Satan had the key to every church and didn’t need an invitation to come inside. Those not of any church often describe the churches as being “full of hypocrites,” but another pastor countered that churches “weren’t hotels for saints but hospitals for sinners,” and those who were in the churches knew they needed its healing.

Why have churches left many downtowns? Changes in the population and the culture would be the most likely reasons. In Newport’s case, the changes required the churches to have more space and different designs. Look at the topography of downtown Newport. It is a narrow strip of land hemmed by a river, two bluffs and the railroad.

When many of the buildings were built 1890-1920, probably little thought was given to expansion. The churches were sandwiched between businesses.

Where could they go?

Also, when these churches were erected, parking was not an issue. Many people walked wherever they went. Not every family had a vehicle and those that did functioned well with only one, as opposed to today when there are several vehicles within the same family.

Newport’s downtown churches were multi-storied. Congregations have always had members who were handicapped and older. Whether it is “pleasant to repeat” (from a hymn line), the mobility of those people was not given much consideration until recent years. Older buildings had steps, and for the older people steps become an issue. Anyone who has had any type of handicap, temporary or permanent, certainly understands this, and anyone who has dealt with implementing the ADA policies understands how little the non-handicapped understand and how resistant they are to change the status quo.

First Baptist Church constructed a ramp and First Christian Church installed an elevator.

Water was another factor for the churches on the south side of Broadway. The bluff behind them is permeated with wet-weather springs and during heavy rains the buildings along the bluff have been plagued with flooding. This is something The Newport Plain Talk, First Baptist Church, Rhea-Mims building, Stokely Memorial Library, the old First Methodist Church have all experienced.

In fact, the water was the main reason that the Methodists left downtown. In the early 1950s the war and depression were over, economy was improving and many churches went into building programs.

First Baptist Church got started on their building first. Construction would be delayed when the site flooded. The Methodist leadership concluded that a similar problem would exist if they started building on their site. That is when they made the decision to leave downtown.

Moving to another site is not always easy. Moving “so far away from downtown” was not popular with all Methodists in 1955. Even some of the members of First Baptist had suggested they leave downtown. The Methodists moved; the Baptists stayed, because churches, like other institutions and organizations, operate under this golden rule: those who have the gold make the rules.

Leaving a church building is not easy for members or friends when one thinks of years of worship, rejoicing, remembrance and mourning shared within its walls.

Citizens will remember graduations, weddings and funerals at First Baptist Church, and it was there that Newport gathered on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001, with a need for divine guidance and reassurance.

Since Newport was established, the population has grown and the boundaries have expanded.

Churches have been established in many other places and are now anchoring the community in those locations.

But more than geographical anchors of town, the churches have been spiritual, emotional and sometimes material havens for the citizens. When times were good, the churches have been here. When times were tough, the churches have been here. They each have made a difference.