Dear Editor,
At the end of March, I began volunteering with a citizen committee formed to raise money and save the historic Timmons Temple Church of God in Christ building, 934 E. Webster St. The pending demolition would make way for an apartment development.
The building was scheduled for demolition in May, but luckily, a delay gave us needed time to raise the remaining funds and potentially relocate the building to Silver Springs Park.
It’s been a challenge.
Along with other volunteers and partners, I feel strongly about the importance of preserving historically, architecturally and culturally significant properties such as this one so deeply rooted in Ozarks history. To save this beautiful, old, Ozarks-rock building, $130,000 of $200,000 is still needed to move the structure to a new foundation and make it functional as a community building.
Save Timmons Temple committee leaders David Eslick and Paula Ringer have served Springfield as local historic preservation leaders for 30 years. When the Timmons Temple congregation applied for rezoning to sell the site to an apartment developer, David and Paula began working tirelessly to find a way to preserve this significant structure. With rocks pulled from the Jordan Creek, the craftsmanship was identified in 2005 by a city of Springfield survey as one of the most significant remaining examples of Ozarks’ native rock architecture.
Once rezoning was approved and the building sold, we were allowed to review the cost and engineering feasibility of relocating the structure to the park next door. This park also is significant to Springfield’s history and its African-American community, as is Timmons Temple.
Timmons Temple is a monument to those who built it and who struggled to overcome serious oppression through faith, fellowship and worship. This building holds important meaning for all Americans, not just in the Ozarks. And unfortunately, it’s most meaningful to those with the least power to save it.
The Springfield-Greene County Park Board already has agreed to manage the building for public use in the county park system if the committee can deliver it ready to go. The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is managing the committee’s tax-deductible fund and all disbursements.
Now, we hope someone – a business, organization, family or individual – is willing and able to help us save this building.
We hold out hope for a creative partnership not yet discovered.
Since I became involved with the effort, I’ve seen many people express shock that a city would let a one-of-a-kind property as significant as Timmons Temple be demolished. Again and again I hear the phrase, “Someone should do something.” It’s that sentiment that led me to volunteer.
Why is a community asset identified as significant and then not provided a way for it to be protected? I believe it has to do with human tendency to take the path of least resistance. If we don’t set up rules for the protection of cultural assets such as this building, they likely won’t be preserved. What are the creative solutions to reuse historic buildings?
The three owners of Alchemy a Salon, 320 E. Commercial St., donated 10 percent of gross sales for the month of May. In total, Paulette Hughes, Sa’dia Luallen and Kayla Clevenger donated more than $1,000 to the relocation effort. Hughes posted a plea to other business owners in her blog that echoed our hopefulness.
“Even if you can only give a few dollars, it will be something. If a thousand people just give a few dollars, it will be a game changer. I challenge you: if you are a lover of history, a person of faith or just someone who roots for the underdog, please give,” she wrote.
Plenty of cities have demonstrated preserving a community’s historic quality pays off economically. Residents and visitors are attracted to an experience unavailable anywhere else. These places are disappearing, along with their stories, making them more valuable than ever.
Think about what Timmons Temple could be. It would be placed next to Jordan Creek Greenway, eventually connecting miles of urban trail from Smith Park through downtown, onto Wilson’s Creek and South Creek greenways. Residents and visitors could ride their bikes to activities held at the stone building – performances, classes, meetings, reunions and art exhibits. The heart-rock detail would make a stunning wedding backdrop.
What will happen? We still have faith.
If you have questions or want to get involved, contact us through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, or our Facebook page, Save Timmons Temple, or donate at
SaveTimmonsTemple.org.
—Lori Tack, Save Timmons Temple Committee volunteer
