Historic East Nashville church survives disaster, prepares for homecoming
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After surviving decades of disaster, East Nashville's former Tulip Street United Methodist Church building is preparing for a special homecoming.
'It's a remarkable survivor for well over a century,' said Jim Hoobler, retired senior curator for the Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee State Capitol.
Built in 1891 on Russell Street, Hoobler said the building is one of the most historic churches in East Nashville. Its original congregation—organized in 1859—moved in after it outgrew its previous building on the other end of the block.
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'It's Richardsonian Romanesque, which means that it's architecture before gothic. So it has rounded arches, and some beautiful terracotta — that's glazed clay,' Hoobler said.
Hoobler pointed out a variety of life-sized elements including cherubs, figures of the archangel Gabriel holding a trumpet and a dragon holding up a balcony.
More than three decades after it was built, the church's stunning features were faced with one Nashville's most devastating tragedies — the Great East Nashville Fire of 1916.
According to Hoobler, the fire is rumored to have been started by a child playing with a ball of yarn that caught fire near lumberyards by the Cumberland River.
'Bam! With all of the wind, a huge fire started. It swept through this area. It burned 650 buildings and 3,000 people were homeless,' he said.
But, miraculously—the church survived. And more than 80 years later, it made it through yet another disaster in 1998.
'When the tornado came through here, it decimated the building. It blew out the entire east wall of the building, and the stained glass was lying in the street, the sanctuary was wide open,' Hoobler recalled.
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Still though, the church was rebuilt and remained standing. Ultimately, it wasn't a force of nature that closed it's doors in 2017, but rather low attendance.
The Methodist Church decided its congregation was too small, and moved in another congregation—one that just happened to have been started at this very same church, and lost their building in a 2020 tornado.
'A church that was formed here, East End Methodist, lost their building. So they are now coming back to their mother church, and they will be worshipping in here at Tulip Street once again,' Hoobler said.
East End United Methodist Church confirmed they have purchased the building and are in the process of renovating it —what Hoobler estimates is a $4.5 million project.
The congregation declined a full interview with News 2 as they are in the middle of the process, but did provide some insight into their plans.
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East End Rev. Brandon Baxter said in a statement he believes this is the congregation's best pathway forward.
'After our historic sanctuary was catastrophically damaged in the 2020 tornadoes, we had a strong desire to remain in ministry in East Nashville,' he said.
Baxter added East End plans to fully renovate the building for ministry to the community while maintaining its historic character, restoring elements like the Jardine organ in the sanctuary.
'Jardine organs are late 19th century organs. It's remarkable that one of those still survives, that they've maintained it all of these years and it's still playable,' Hoobler said.
Until the renovations are complete, Baxter said East End will continue to worship one block away in the auditorium at Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School.
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Hoobler said survivors like the former Tulip Street Church building show us who we are; a sentiment best portrayed by John Steinbeck in a quote he shared from 'The Grapes of Wrath.'
'She says, 'How are you going to know where you come from, unless you remember where that was?' And that's what historic structures tell us. They tell us where we came from, and they help us remember where we are,' Hoobler concluded.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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