DeKalb may consider new rules following demolition of century-old church

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By Bill Banks

For the AJC

When the little 114-year-old wood building at Wesley Chapel and Snapfinger roads in DeKalb County disappeared late last month, it was a surprise to nearly everyone outside the Methodist Church.

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The exterior of the old Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church in DeKalb County is visible through this cemetery photograph. The 114-year-old wooden building was torn down two weeks ago. The building was well-known to historians.

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The fate of the former Wesley Chapel sanctuary had been discussed internally for at least two years, but few neighbors or even historians knew what was coming.

Now the county's historic preservation planner said he's considering a measure that would prevent the loss of buildings that may have historical significance.

“It’s what we call a ‘demolition delay ordinance,’' planner David Cullison said. “I’ve been thinking about it off and on for awhile. But what happened to Wesley Chapel definitely brings it to the forefront.”

When “the old church” was razed, the news spread quickly through the network of amateur and professional historians.

"My sister called me and told me it was all gone," said Johnny Waits, community historian and archivist for DeKalb County's Flat Rock neighborhood, several miles from Wesley Chapel. "She said they even tore down the pews and stained glass windows."

Gordon Midgette, who was the DeKalb County History Center’s first executive director from 1976-'81, has more recently written about the 19th century social and religious relationships between Wesley Chapel, a predominantly white church until the mid 1980s, and the 150-year old, predominantly African-American Flat Rock United Methodist, to which Waits belongs.

“They can say they discussed [the old church’s fate] for two years,” Midgette said, “but I didn’t know about it. Nobody did. There was no public review, and that’s the tragedy of this whole mess. There is no doubt in my mind, had this come into public light, with all the interest this building would’ve generated, money would’ve been found to save it.”

The Rev. Travia L. Speer, current senior pastor for Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, declined to comment on the demolition or plans for the site.

But Jamie Jenkins, executive assistant to the Bishop, North Georgia Office of the United Methodist Church, confirmed the church had debated what to do with the old building for at least two years. He said the demolition was handled properly and that the land is not for sale.

“They actually offered it to multiple sources to move it, or sell it, or fix it up,” Jenkins said. “They’ve done everything correctly in following county and Methodist protocol. In the end they concluded it would cost a quarter-million dollars to bring it up to code."

"It's like everything else," he said. "Folks are in favor of certain things as long as they don't have to spend money."

Melissa Forgey, DeKalb History Center’s current executive director, said she met with the pastor and other representatives of the church two months ago.

“They basically said they had no ties to that old building and therefore had no interest in saving it," she said.

Cullison, who said he regrets losing the church building, said he is in the early stages writing a demolition delay ordinance to pass along to county commissioners and described how it might work.

"If someone applies for a demolition permit, then somebody like me would examine the building," Cullison said. "If it’s more than 50 years old, and if it appears to me to be significantly historic, then we could delay the demolition."

A delay could provide time to preserve a building, find a buyer for it, and bring it to the attention of the public.

"Understand, I’m still working all this out, and I don’t even know it’s a good fit for DeKalb or not,” he said.

The Wesley Chapel building torn down was 114 years old, but the church itself was founded in 1821, according to a detailed history compiled in 1983 by former pastor G. Horace Couch.

In the mid 1980s the church, and its surrounding southeast DeKalb neighborhood, began a transition from predominantly white to mostly African American by the mid 1990s.

Couch, 86, retired in 1990 and now lives in Newnan. When he heard about the demolition, he said, "I never thought they'd ever do that. I do remember that old wooden church, because I used to go up there for inspiration. Sitting in that sanctuary with the stained glass windows that had the old family names, I could hear all the old hymns."