Where the church with “tall and taller” towers stood on East High Street is today a practical parking lot. The photographer who took the image in last week’s column was standing on the hill in front of the Knox County courthouse in a spot slightly forward of this. Part of the hillside is now cut away for parking. Credit: Mark Sebastian Jordan

History Knox

Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a column each Saturday reflecting on Knox County's history.

MOUNT VERNON — One of my favorite parts of doing this column is when I can turn over a question to the readers, and they take it and run with it.

In last week’s column, I shared a vintage postcard image that showed a church with two towers. It was simply labeled, “Baptist Church, Mt. Vernon, O.”

History Knox readers identified the mystery church in last week’s columns as the First Baptist Church which sat on East High Street, across from the Knox County courthouse for over a century. (Image courtesy of Jim Gibson.)

It wasn’t anything I recognized from the years since I’ve been around town, so I threw it out there to the History Knox readers, whom I knew from prior experience to be an astute collection of people.

And, boy, did the readers come through! It turns out that this beautiful building used to stand on East High Street, directly across the street from the county courthouse.

It was the original location of the First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon according to Scott Burgess, a long-time friend of the column, and he ought to know, considering that’s he’s the deacon chair of the church, with which his family has been involved for generations.

Today, the congregation can be found on South Edgewood drive on the eastern edge of town (of which, more next week).

The church’s roots go back to 1815, just a few years after Mount Vernon was founded, though they did not officially organize until 1835. Earlier structures were outgrown, and the building in the postcard was built and opened in 1881.

This postcard shows massive wind damage a severe thunderstorm wrought on the church towers in 1914. (Image courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

Scott supplied us with several other postcard photos, including a startling one that shows the towers in a partially demolished state from a severe thunderstorm which struck the town on June 22, 1914. The Democratic Banner reported:

At 2:10 Monday afternoon, during the severest part of the storm which swept over this community, a sudden gust of wind toppled over the two towers on the Baptist church, East High Street.

An entire section of the belfry was swept to the ground, the part containing the bell remains intact. Only half of the outer portion of the eastern tower remained after the wind had struck it.

The debris from this was carried over to the small building just east of the church and smashed through a portion of the roof, carrying the spouting down.

When the building was demolished, the rose window was saved and donated to the Knox County Historical Society, where it remains on display today. (Photo courtesy of Jim Gibson.)

Nobody was passing by when the accident occurred, which was very fortunate as the church yard and walk in front were covered with bricks, odd pieces of wood, etc. The wind was so strong, that one of the shingles from the steeple was carried down to Gay Street.

The loss will probably amount to more than $1,000.

The report added that all over Mount Vernon trees and power lines were downed by the storm, cutting off power and phone lines for a period of time afterward.

And as for that damage estimate, over $1,000 in 1914 is the equivalent to over $32,000 in damages in today’s money.

Looking at the damage, I’d also add that repair work of this nature would call for the kind of specialized labor that would be very expensive today, so I’d estimate the cast to be a lot higher.

Another photo which Scott supplied shows that after the church congregation moved to its current location, an addition was built onto the old church in the mid-20th century, after which it was used by the county for several more decades.

Eventually, the building was deemed beyond repair, and was demolished.

Another vintage postcard view of the church from around 1910. (Image courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

Today, it is the parking lot to the west of the Knox public defender’s office, curling around behind that building to the Memorial Theater. We’ll do an additional follow-up next week to discuss the stone wall in front of the parking lot, as well as the new home of the old church’s bell.

Readers Suzy Magill Davidson and Walt Baughman pointed out in the comments on the Facebook post of the postcard photo last week that the church’s stained-glass rose window is still in existence.

At about the same time they were posting, the retired director of the Knox County Historical Society, Jim Gibson, was contacting me.

He knows that window very well, because when the church was demolished, the window was donated to the historical society by the Knox County commissioners, and the window was put on display in the museum, where it can still be seen today.

Jim noted that many people commented to him about how beautiful the stained-glass looked in the church when the sun shined through it, so the museum devised a display where the window is actually lit from behind, so that the sunburst effect can still be experienced to this day.

As soon as Jim described it, I remembered that display, and was delighted to realize that my postcard was connected to that wonderful window.

If you’d like to see it, or an endless number of other fascinating displays, the museum is open Thursday through Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. March through November at 875 Harcourt Road.

This photo shows the addition which was added to the front of the old church, when it was turned into a county building in the mid-twentieth century. (Image courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

Next Thursday evening, Aug. 6, at 7:30, the museum will be featuring a talk by Aaron Keirns, author of the excellent book America’s Forgotten Airship Disaster: The Crash of the USS Shenandoah, which explores the 1925 crash of a dirigible in Caldwell, Ohio.

I hope to make it to that talk myself!

Reader Kyle Lilley wrote to me to point out that the Baptist church was originally on West Vine Street before it moved to the East High location. Here is a condensed version of the entry from the book History of Knox County Past and Present 1881:

The First Baptist church was organized under the name of the First Baptist church of Mt. Vernon, Dec. 15, 1835. Henry Cosner was the first pastor. The first service was held in the Methodist Episcopal church on Mulberry Street.

The church after this migrated from place to place for a period of one or two years, when a location was effected in a ward school-house. The present church building [meaning the one on West Vine Street, before the 1881 church on East High was finished] was built in 1841.

This map shows the previous location of the First Baptist Church on West Vine Street before the 1881 church was built on East High Street. (Image courtesy of Kyle Lilley.)

The membership numbered sixty at that time. The church prospered, and in 16 years, 366 members had been added by letter and baptism, and the membership had increased from 13 to 239. There are 388 members that have been added to the church within 45 years.

While this temple has maintained an uniform exterior (a weather-beaten and moss covered appearance), its interior has undergone numerous transformations.

Conspicuous for its shape, height and size, was a huge wooden structure called the Pulpit, which concealed the minister, except his head and face, while in a standing position, and completely hid him from view when he sat down.

November 25, 1872, a subscription was started for money to purchase a new building lot. The new building opened in 1881, and it is the two-towered structure seen in these postcard images.

Many thanks to the numerous people who contributed to this conversation, and to the information we’ll cover next week.