New Latter-day Saints meetinghouse to be dedicated
ATHENS — The recently renovated Athens meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be dedicated at 6 p.m. Saturday under the direction of Elder R. Randall Bluth.
The public is invited to attend.
The dedication will be at 1716 W. Market St. in Athens.
Records indicate the first baptisms in the northern Alabama area of the Southern States Mission occurred in January of 1895. More than 34 years later, on July 28, 1929, traveling missionary elders organized a Sunday School at Locke’s Crossroads near Elkmont.
The Elkmont Chapel was constructed on a member’s donated land and dedicated on Nov. 1, 1931. Local church members worshipped in the humble, one-room frame building and often held meetings outside beneath a large oak tree. The Elkmont Branch (small congregation) was formally created on Oct. 4, 1936 as part of the Alabama District.
“As the granddaughter and daughter of one of the pioneering families in this area, it is humbling to see the growth of the church here,” Shelley Mitchell Merrill said. “My extended family sacrificed a great deal, as did all of the early members in this area, often meeting in rented spaces and borrowed homes in order to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Merrill said her grandparents, John Washington and Elvina Calista Higgins Locke, donated the land upon which the old Elkmont chapel was constructed. Her parents, Samuel A. Mitchell Jr. and Valeria Lodeska Moore Mitchell, helped to construct the first full-use meetinghouse at Tanner Crossroads, which is now People’s Funeral Home.
“I well remember the classroom addition being added to that building during my own childhood,” Merrill said. “Prior to that, classes were often held in the parked cars of the members.”
The church continued to grow and on Sept. 23, 1937, the Alabama District was divided into the North and South Alabama Districts and missionary activity increased. Missionary elders presided over the North District until 1943 when local district presidents were called to preside over the various Sunday Schools and branches.
In 1962, the first phase of the meetinghouse at Tanner Crossroads was constructed. It contained classrooms, a baptismal font and a temporary assembly room. The building housed the Decatur Ward, or larger congregation, which was created by combining the Sunday Schools and branches from Limestone and Morgan counties. As the membership increased, a chapel was added and dedicated on Oct. 14, 1967.
Church growth continued in the area and the Alabama Stake (comprising of multiple congregations) was organized on March 3, 1968. The stake was later renamed the Huntsville Alabama Stake.
On Nov. 3, 1985, the Athens Ward was created from the Decatur Ward with both wards attending at the building in Tanner. Ground was broken on Jan. 9, 1989, for the current location of the Athens Ward meetinghouse.
Ward members assisted in the building site preparation and landscaping. On Aug. 13, 1990, the Athens saints moved furnishings into the new building and the first church service was held on Aug. 19, 1990, with the building being dedicated on March 18, 1994.
Ward membership grew steadily over the years and another addition was needed. In May 2010, the old section of the building was remodeled and the meetinghouse was expanded to include a new chapel and more classrooms. The Athens saints held their first Sunday services in this newly amended building on April 11 and in October, the Athens Ward became part of the newly created Madison Alabama Stake.
From its early roots in Elkmont, the Athens Ward has the distinction of being a parent to all other Church units in northern Alabama.
“Witnessing the growth of God’s kingdom that has spread to create not one, but two Stakes of Zion from the humble frame building that was the Elkmont Chapel is indeed a modern-day miracle,” Merrill said.
To learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its organization and precepts, visit www.lds.org or www.mormon.org.
