This wall, directly across the street from the Knox County courthouse, is full of hidden history. Credit: Mark Sebastian Jordan

History Knox

Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a column each Saturday reflecting on the history of the community.

MOUNT VERNON — There is a remarkable footnote to the story of Mount Vernon’s First Baptist Church, which we’ve lately been examining.

This trek started with an old postcard which readers identified as the church which used to sit on East High Street, across from the county courthouse. The church congregation left the building in 1974, after which it was converted into use as a county building.

The Knox County commissioners had the wall built out of remnant foundation stones from the First Baptist Church building. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)

When it was finally declared structurally unsound, the building was demolished in the early 2000s, and a parking lot occupies the space now.

But pieces of the original building remain. A wall was built in front of the parking lot, right along the sidewalk, in 2002. A stone with an inscription sits in the middle of the wall.

Beneath the year of construction, its text reads: “This wall built with foundation stones from the First Baptist Church built on this site in 1881.” It lists the Knox County commissioners who had the wall built: Robert Durbin, Thomas McLarnan, and Allen Stockberger.

The western corner of the wall holds the church’s 1881 cornerstone. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)

But if you take a closer look while walking along these along foundation stones, you will find at the west end of the wall, the church’s original cornerstone. It was carved with the year the church’s construction was finished, 1881, and it’s still completely legible.

If you look even more closely at the cornerstone, though, you will find what was once a hole on the top of the rock, which was filled in with concrete when the wall was built.

The hole was there because the cornerstone also functioned as a time capsule for the church, who left items and documents inside the cornerstone which were brought out when the building was torn down.

The blue arrow indicates the location of the time capsule, put in the cornerstone in 1915. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)

The time capsule, however appears to date from 1915, suggesting that it was perhaps installed during the extensive repairs that were undertaken to the building after the massive windstorm damage which nearly demolished the church’s towers in June of 1914.

Fortunately, one of the readers who provided copious information about the church is Scott Burgess, whose family has been associated with the First Baptist Church for many years.

Not only was he able to confirm the church in the original postcard, he also provided us with several of the images seen in last week’s follow-up. But that’s not all he could share with us.

The time capsule included a photo of the church’s officers in 1915. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

Scott went to the church and took several photos for this week’s column, for which we’re grateful, that show the actual contents of the time capsule, providing a glimpse back at the church’s operations in 1915.

Items include an 1892 hymn book, a photo and a typed list of the church officers in 1915, a copy of the church’s covenant, and a silverware place setting supplied by the church’s deaconesses.

The list shows the names from numerous families still involved in Mount Vernon community life over a century later.

The church officers list from 1915, part one. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)
The church officers list, part two. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

Particularly interesting is to see that the church’s secretary in 1915 was Ogden Wintermute.

Local history fans might recognize that name, for Wintermute was the first person to ever write a biography of Daniel Decatur Emmett, the famous songwriter and performer from here.

Wintermute’s secretaryship was an early activity, as he was only 20 years old in 1915, but he was to spend a lifetime collecting information and memorabilia about Emmett, which were donated to the Knox County Historical Society after Wintermute’s 1964 death.

This period hymn book was included in the time capsule. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

His book had been published in 1955, and remains a valuable resource for the study of Emmett’s roots and subsequent career.

Another interesting figure among the church officers is honorary deacon Frank C. Larimore.

We’ve written about him before in the wild story of the battle for the body of Frederick Iunger, in which Dr. Larimore was one of the major players.

This place setting from the church was in the capsule. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)

Other familiar local names include Workman, Kinney, Ewalt, and Zolman.

The church was very much central to activity in Mount Vernon during this period, and its history looms large to this day.

A copy of the church’s covenant was included. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)
This commemorative plate in the church’s collection shows the church with the addition which was later added to the building. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burgess.)