Walkabout: One church saved, another near it needs angels' help
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The German United Evangelical Protestant Church on Rhine Street in Spring Hill sits under roof that collapsed, leaving it vulnerable to demolition. Te church was built in 1901.
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Neighbors across the street from the old German church on Rhine Street in Spring Hill say they have been watching the roof from their porches, wondering how it made it through another winter as it inched toward the cave-in Ted Foley so accurately predicted on Sunday.
"I was in the living room and I told the wife, 'This is the day,' " he said.
He said someone must have called 911 about the fallen debris on the North Side because the fire department showed up and the city put up barriers and wrapped caution tape around the sidewalk.
"I had the same feeling," said David Pohl, who lives next to Mr. Foley and can see the roof from his porch. "I could tell it had sunk a lot in the last month."
At the turn of the last century, the church was built and dedicated by a congregation that heard services in German up until the 1930s. According to 1925 and 1939 maps, it was the Jesus Chapel of the German United Evangelical Protestant.
At the turn of this century, it was abandoned. In its last incarnation it was a Church of Christ. Its neighbors remember the bell ringing and rice flying at weddings and the organ booming through open doors.
"They always sang 'Let There Be Peace on Earth,'" said Mr. Pohl, who has lived across the street for 20 years. When he started attending and the church's future was in doubt, he said, "I would stand up when they had their 'joys and concerns,' and I asked if maybe they could sell it to save it." There were about 12 people attending at the end. "It's such a unique structure, a little like folk art."
Another historic structure in trouble in this city, this church seems to have been whimsically conceived, with a combination of Romanesque and Gothic arches and a false gable that would suggest the designer imagined the Art Deco movement that was still 20 years away.
The current owner, Kevin Jost, bought it in 2009 for $35,000, hoping to renovate it into a community events center.
"As a kid I lived in Spring Hill and walked by it every day," he said. "I thought it was a neat building and never dreamed I could own it. I was devastated when I heard about [the roof]. The plan is to get it fixed."
First Published July 26, 2011 12:00 am
