8/10/2019 2/13/2008 Woodward Talk Article about Ferndale's Oldest Church

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ICl

11106

The Fern-

dale HIstor-

Ical

Society

is working

to

preserve

the Jeffries

Baptist

Church

located at

165

E.

Nine

Mile Road,

and

other

historical

buildings In

Ille

city.

Developer

says

it never

intended

to

demolish

Jeffries

aptist

By

jEREJoI SUWIOSKI

C j SrafflVrilPr

FERNDALE -

It

is

a

AAga

or 1ll;sc:ommuniCltion:

11>

.. [-em

JJJ

IlistOric.1

S o d ~ [ r is

fighting

\0 presenc The aldesr church in

,he northwest ooml'f ofNinc Mile

Road and

Bermuda

Strm.

don'r

W:1Il1

to

:l.

histQri

cal b.ndrn:l.rk

10r l1

down

and

rumcd into a parking

he s:lid.

However, Adam Wol(,oo,

S:lIcs

and dc-.'rlopmem dircclor for

True Lofl Living in Ferndale, is

confuse(l as 0

wh,' (he

FHS

would

anume

his

~ o m p n y

is

plJnning 10 destroy the church.

~ wanl to prescrvt the

-\ ,

-

'

.-

Group wants

t

preserve

city's-oldest church

8/10/2019 2/13/2008 Woodward Talk Article about Ferndale's Oldest Church

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Church

from paCilA

~

mat

it

would

be

prc.o;ervcil,

but

we

have no p r o o f , ~

he

said. We

warn 0 5Cl' it in writing,

Formerly knowll

as

the Taber

nacle. the Jeffries Baptist

Church

was

buill in 1920

and

is Ferndale'.

oldesr dJurch. Prior

ro its

constmc

tion,

the

Ioc::ition housed the city's

polia and

fire ~ l l m e m 5 During

World %

f,

the

ch\ln;h ':IS

ll...M 2S

a for

women ro

carry

oU{ ROO

Cross c t i v i t i ~ .

According

[0 saac

Kumer.

an

uchifCCfural hismrian

who

has

worked

Of }

hisloriCl1

preservation

in

Michigan and K \ ~ r a l other nates,

the Jeffiies

&prist Church is

"one

of

the most imporcalll buildings in Fer

ndale. [t brings to mind Ihc great

churches of England and rhose of

l.he early AmaiCll\ c o l o n ~ . . . . The

goal should be

[ 0

preserve

it

;lIld

make

jf

fit

in ,h Ihc

more

modan

building>: surrounding it.

In

Lhcir endeavor \0 save Ihc

church. Andrews >aid. me

FHS

has

wrincn

numcrOlll

ICHers to True

Lo& Uving but has 00( Ruiwd

a response

from

them.

Why

havell'L

rhcsc

people

rome down

here

to (;Ilk

ro

wr

he ad:d.

13m Jc.:or,ling \0 \I;'olf>oo. his

romlX'ny Ius received only 0 0 lcnet

fmm the

FHS,

pmrnurked JJn. 29

-

several

U;LyS afler Ihc'FHS

lim

contacted membcrs of rhe media

about the church,

He 6:b frusrrJroo

rnat the FHS did nor m'lke an drort

to COlll;K1 rum first.

-In this dar and agt", where 1

recci\'\

10

v i ~ i f andfor phone calb a

week from

oq;arwmioJlS looking fOr

support

of

their

respective

auses.

ir

shocks me

l h a ~

I have: not

h:ld

but a

phone

G111,

e-mail or ;1 drop-in

face-Woface

encounter wi

III Mr.

Andrews or anyone else from Ihe

F H S ~

he said. KWc'd be, happy

ro

sit

down and talk with them,w

For

Wol&on,

the

FHS' matcgv

seems like

K

a

blar:anl m

..

OIg3inst

his company. The

actions

of

~ h e

FHS

appear as an altempt at

our

expcn,;c to

g:Jin

publici :)

and rele

vance by

wing

the

mr-dia to

m:Ute

an issue our of something

mat

quile

simply

w.l5n't

one and

isn'l

one. he

said.

HO\l'C\'er. Andrews firmly mu

ed thar the FHS' goals ..re only to

preservc the chun:h and other city

landmarks. We're talkin ,> ..

bout

valuable

historiC'll

bl,;ldin& -

WI:

don'r

want

to

make

this

a

biS

politi.

cal

~ u e w he

said.

[n addition,

he's hoping rhal

Ihe preselYation of the Jdtri , &p

tin Church

is

only Ihe first step

toward esrablishing 11

historical

com

misoion with rhe 1\'rlld,,1c

Ciry

Council.

The church is a cataJyst to

this

ntT the ground and

light

a fire

under (tll.'

~ o u n c i l ~ )

rtlI cnrb,

said.

Aoorc:ws belirvc'i tho:' formation

uf such ..

~ l l m i 5 S i o n

would bring

additional m' nue

ro

r1u:

ciry by giv

ing lhe FHS

rhe

oppommiry ro hOSl

rO\lIS and

s ~ l J souvenirs al

\':l.rioU'

h i ~ o r i a l l u c : J . i u n s in Ihe

city.

It

will allow (hese old build

i n ~

ru be

dc: