Gospel Advocate

Some Restoration Movement sites in downtown Nashville

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At some point somewhere I talked about Restoration Movement sites in downtown Nashville, and how close they are.  At the risk of trivializing the geography (Alexander Campbell slept here!) it is worth noting that one cannot move around too much downtown without walking across some site where something fairly significant happened.

Metro Archives posted this photo from 1965 to their Facebook page some years ago.  It provided the perfect canvas to sketch out for my audience what I needed to say.

Downtown Nashville, aerial view, 1965. From Metro Nashville Archives

I must have been talking about the Hebrew Mission, because why else would that location be emphasized?  The green highlights are on city streets in front of locations of interest.  That is by design since Nashville natives know their city by street names, and that was one of my ‘hooks’ to draw in my audience.  Also, since most of the landmarks are now obliterated, the streets are all that remain (and some of them have been renamed).  This photo is also a good backdrop because 1) of the recognizable L&C Tower, and  2) it is so different from the skyline we now know (or have to endure).  Point being it grabbed attention and let me sketch out the historical geography of some of the important places that figured prominently in my talk.

Downtown Nashville, aerial view, 1965. From Metro Nashville Archives

So, start at the upper right corner, and we’ll go counter-clockwise:

*Foster Street Church, the Northeast Nashville outpost of the emerging suburban growth of Churches of Christ in the 1880s.  I think I mentioned this only to take advantage of the I-65 construction underway in this photo, and thereby make a point that the built environment has erased some of the important landmarks.  Even many locals 20 years ago had never heard of Foster Street Church.  Foster Street Church location is on the north margin of the on-ramp complex.

*Then go west over to Gay Street just north of the Capitol, site of the former Second Christian Church or Gay Street Christian Church, the major African-American congregation of Disciples and the first RM congregation in town to install an organ.  That building was a casualty of the Capitol Hill redevelopment program, mid 20th c.

*Then almost due south to Vine Street (later 7th Avenue, North), and we see a parking lot on the east side of the street, next to the tall hotel.  Site of the Vine Street Christian Church, built in 1889.

*Now a block or so south on 7th to the intersection at Broadway, to see the McQuiddy Printing Company building (still standing as the Barbershop Harmony Society headquarters).  This is where Gospel Advocate was edited and published for a generation, mid 20th. c.

*Now, turn the corner and at the back side of the Masonic Temple on the corner, within a stone’s throw of McQuiddy, is a four story red brick storefront with apartments above.  The Hebrew Mission occupied the ground floor of this building, ca. 1928-1932 or so.

*From there move northeast to Fifth Avenue, North, to see the Ryman Auditorium, and across the street from it the Central Church of Christ Girls Home (still standing in 1965, but would be razed in 1972).  Across Commerce to the north is Central Church Administration building and auditorium.

*Now hop up and over and across the alley to the Life and Casualty Insurance building.  The home office built before the tower is adjacent, red brick with a stone facade.  Both face 4th Avenue North just shy of Church Street.  Somewhere about where L&C complex sits was the Cherry Street Christian Church sat.  This was the grand building built for Jesse Babcock Ferguson in the late 1840s-early 1850s.  The old Church Street Christian Church sat about where the Public Library downtown branch sits, and it is not marked on this photo.

Time was you could drop me on just about any corner in Nashville, Tennessee, and not only could I find my way home, I could talk about RM sites along the way.  Given how much the built environment has changed in ten years, I don’t know if I would recognize it much at all.

 

“Your Church Music,” hymnal advertisement, 1915

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This is the third in a short series of advertisements that caught my eye as I looked through some back issues of Christian Standard.  Scroll down to see the earlier two, especially the one for The New Make Christ King evangelistic hymnal.

I backed into an interest in hymnody only a few years ago, but it has been a very interesting and enjoyable interest to nurture.  So ads for hymnals and articles that describe or prescribe singing or worship practices are always a delight to discover.

How can this be useful for research?

–Bibliographically speaking, ads like this are helpful because they alert us to books that we might not have otherwise known existed.  Catalogs for publishing houses like Standard Publishing Company, Christian Publishing Company (which by 1915 became Christian Board of Publication), and Gospel Advocate Publishing Company (later McQuiddy Printing Company, then Gospel Advocate Company), were steadily produced at this time, and some even survive.  But, one cannot rely only on the catalogs since hymnals and song books come into and go out of print sometimes quickly.  Unless we have full runs of the catalogs then we will miss things.  And one cannot rely only on observing library holdings since they too have gaps.  It can be laborious to search Worldcat because catalogers sometimes abbreviate publisher names (using the item at hand which often abbreviate ‘Publishing’ as ‘Pub.’ as in Standard Pub. Co.).  This is understandable, however it renders the search process a little trickier than may first be apparent. In my experience, the ads are a good way to begin filling the gaps.  In this case, we have a nice array of hymnals, and looking over this list I see a couple books that are new to me: The Communion Choir and M. M. Davis’ Responsive Bible Readings for the Church chief among them.

–The publishers’ comments, sales pitches really, are instructive.  They reveal how the books are intended to be used.  Therefore we may infer that the hymns and songs selected and included in these books serve (in the minds of the compilers and publishers) to further the aims of activities like Sunday School instruction, ‘C. E. services’, evangelistic meetings, communion services, or the instruction of children.  Right off the bat, I see a book waiting to be written about the use of hymns and songs in the spiritual formation of children.  Or a book about the use of song in revivals and evangelistic meetings (Charles Reign Scoville’s work is a major example). The literature is easily at hand that will support such a study.  Ads like this will help researchers.

Here is the full back-page ad from Christian Standard, vol. 50, no. 44 (July 31, 1915):

Christian Standard, vol. 50, no. 44 (July 31, 1915)

 

 

Name Authority for Nashville, Tennessee Stone-Campbell Congregations, 5th edition, now available

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Name Authority for Nashville Tennessee Stone-Campbell Congregations, 5th edition, revised and enlarged. April 18, 2020.  This list comprises 440 variations of time, place and character names for 247 known congregations of the Stone-Campbell Movement in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee from 1812 to March 2020.

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Vacation Bible School. Eastview Church of Christ, Nashville, Tennessee, early 1950s

Nashville, The City of David (Lipscomb): Three issues of Gospel Advocate remember Lipscomb and his legacy

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The December 6, 1917 issue of Gospel Advocate was devoted to the memory of the recently-deceased David Lipscomb.  It is a rich treasure of memories and tributes. To my knowledge this issue was the first to carry Lipscomb’s photograph on the cover. Similar covers followed in 1931 (the July 11 Davidson County Special Number) and 1939 (the December 7 special issue about the history of the Nashville congregations).

These three issues are of significant historical value. As primary sources they provide information unavailable elsewhere. As interpretive reflections they are a beginning point for how Lipscomb was remembered and how congregational history was recorded and carried forward. The 1917 issue, other than newspaper obituaries and Price Billingsley’s diary, is the first secondary source about the life and impact of David Lipscomb. The Billingsley diary (housed at Center for Restoration Studies, Abilene Christian University) contains a description of the funeral along with its author’s candid thoughts and impressions. It was not intended, at the time, for public reading.

The issue of the Advocate, however, is a product of the McQuiddy Printing Company and is most certainly intended to capture the mood and ethos in the air just after Lipscomb’s death and by way of the mails deliver it to subscribers wherever they may be. In point of time, it is the first published sustained historical reflection on Lipscomb’s life and ministry. The 1931 and 1939 special issues focus on Lipscomb’s activity on the ground among the citizens of Nashville’s neighborhoods. Here his legacy is as a church planter: an indefatigable, patient, faithful steward. He plants, he teaches, he preaches, he organizes. He observes shifting residential patterns and responds with congregational leadership development. To meet the needs of the emerging streetcar suburbs, he urges elders to take charge of teaching responsibilities, engage evangelists and establish congregations through peaceful migrations and church plants. The 1931 and 1939 issues are testimonies to the effects of this approach. Along the way they preserve details and photographic evidence that is simply unavailable elsewhere.

All three are available for download below.

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Click here to download the December 6, 1917 David Lipscomb Memorial Number.

Click here to download the historical sections from the July 11, 1931 special issue about the history of the Nashville Churches of Christ

Click here to download the December 7, 1939 special issue about the history of the Nashville Churches of Christ.

David Lipscomb: A Bibliography

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Compiled by McGarvey Ice, 9 November 2017

I list entries under three headings: BOOKS and MONOGRAPHS are stand-alone publications authored by David Lipscomb, or contain his works as edited by others; ESSAYS or CHAPTERS are materials authored by Lipscomb and published during his lifetime. These are not stand-alone publications; finally, BIOGRAPHICAL and INTERPRETIVE list biographical sketches about Lipscomb (published during his life and after his death) and scholarly interpretive works about his life and thought. I list entries under each heading chronologically by date of first publication. I note subsequent editions and/or reprintings only at the entry of first publication. In a few cases I add additional notes. Additions, corrections, and comments are welcome at mac.ice@acu.edu.  Click here to download the bibliography in PDF format.

BOOKS and MONOGRAPHS

Lipscomb, David. The Religious Sentiment, Its Social and Political Influence: An Address Before the Alumni Society of Franklin College, Tenn., delivered on the 4th of July, 1855. Nashville: Cameron & Fall, 1855. 36 p.

Lipscomb, David. Offerings to the Lord: A Tract. Nashville: Lipscomb & Sewell, 1878. 42 p.

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David Lipscomb. Offerings to the Lord: A Tract. Nashville: Lipscomb & Sewell, 1878.

[Lipscomb, David] The Standard and the Hymn-Book, with An Exposition of Its Course Toward the Missionary Society. Nashville: A. M. Sewell, 1883. 32 p.

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[David Lipscomb] The Standard and the Hymn-Book, with An Exposition of Its Course Toward the Missionary Society. Nashville: A. M. Sewell, 1883.

Lipscomb, David. Difficulties in Religion Considered. [Nashville?: Lipscomb & Sewell?, prior to 1888, possibly in 1885]. Perhaps bound with John T. Poe, What Must I Do To Be Saved? and John T. Poe, The Identity of the Church. This content may be the same as the chapter by the same name in Salvation from Sin (1913).

Lipscomb, D. Christian Unity. How Promoted, How Destroyed. Faith and Opinion. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1891. 64 p. Reprinted by McQuiddy Printing Company, Nashville, 1916. Reprinted under a short title, On Christian Unity, by Doulos Christou Press, Indianapolis, 2006.

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D. Lipscomb. Christian Unity. How Promoted, How Destroyed. Faith and Opinion. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, Nashville, 1916.

Lipscomb, D. Civil Government. Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian’s Relation To It. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1889. 158 p. Reprinted by McQuiddy Printing Company, Nashville, 1913; Gospel Advocate Company, 1957. Reprinted by Vance Publications, Pensacola, 2006. This material appeared earlier in Christian Quarterly Review, issues of October 1888, January 1889 and July 1889.

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D. Lipscomb. Civil Government. Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian’s Relation To It. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1889.

Lipscomb, D. Life and Sermons of Jesse L. Sewell. An Account of His Life, Labors and Character. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1891. 318 p. Second and third ‘editions’, actually printings, in 1891 by Gospel Advocate Publishing Company. Fourth ‘edition’ by Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, 1954.

Lipscomb, David. Notes on the International S. S. Lessons for 1895. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, [1895]. 279, 1, 34 p.

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David Lipscomb. Notes on the International S. S. Lessons for 1895. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, [1895]

Lipscomb, David. Notes on the International S. S. Lessons for 1896. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, [1896].

Lipscomb, D. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, with Questions Suited for the Use of Families and Schools. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1896. 249, 5 p. Printed at least four times, one perhaps as late as 1939.

[Lipscomb, David] Instruments of Music in the Service of God: An Examination of the Subject from the Teaching of Both the Old and the New Testaments. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, [1903]. This tract first appeared in a three-part series of articles in Gospel Advocate in October 1901.

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[David Lipscomb] Instruments of Music in the Service of God: An Examination of the Subject from the Teaching of Both the Old and the New Testaments. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, [1903].

Lipscomb, David. The Sabbath: Which Day Shall We Observe—The First or the Seventh?  [Nashville?: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company and/or McQuiddy Printing Company?, prior to 1910].

Shepherd, J. W. Queries and Answers by David Lipscomb, Editor of the Gospel Advocate. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1910. 458 p. Second and third editions in 1910 and 1911 respectively, both by McQuiddy Printing Company. Fourth and fifth editions by F. L. Rowe, Cincinnati, 1918 and 1942 respectively. Also a Fifth edition by Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, 1963. All subsequent ‘editions’ after the first are actually printings.

Shepherd, J. W. Salvation from Sin by David Lipscomb, Editor of the Gospel Advocate. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1913. x, 440 p. ‘Second edition’, actually a printing, by Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, 1950. Reprinted by Faith and Facts, Indianapolis, ca. 1995.

Kurfees, M. C., ed. Queries and Answers by Lipscomb and Sewell being A Compilation of Queries with Answers by D. Lipscomb and E. G. Sewell, covering a period of forty years of their joint editorial labors on the Gospel Advocate. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1921. 767 p. Apparently the first printing bears the title as above, both on the title page and spine of the book. Second printing changed to ‘Questions Answered by Lipscomb and Sewell…”. Reprinted under the latter title by McQuiddy Printing Company, Nashville, 1952 and 1957 and by Gospel Advocate Company in 1963 and 1974. The title change may have occurred as early as May 1921; the book was first noted in February 1921.

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M. C. Kurfees, ed. Queries and Answers by Lipscomb and Sewell being A Compilation of Queries with Answers by D. Lipscomb and E. G. Sewell, covering a period of forty years of their joint editorial labors on the Gospel Advocate. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1921.

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M. C. Kurfees, ed. Questions AnswereD by Lipscomb and Sewell being A Compilation of Queries with Answers by D. Lipscomb and E. G. Sewell, covering a period of forty years of their joint editorial labors on the Gospel Advocate. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1921.

Shepherd, J. W., ed. A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles by David Lipscomb. Volume I. Romans. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1933. 285 p.

Shepherd, J. W., ed. A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles by David Lipscomb. Volume II. First Corinthians. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1935. 274 p.

Shepherd, J. W., ed. A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles by David Lipscomb. Volume III. Second Corinthians and Galatians. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1936. 304 p.

Shepherd, J. W., ed. A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles by David Lipscomb. Volume IV. Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1939. 330 p.

Dorris, C. E. W., ed. A Commentary on The Gospel by John by David Lipscomb. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1939. 339 p.

Shepherd, J. W., ed. A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles by David Lipscomb. Volume V. I, II Thessalonians, I, II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1942. 324 p.

Shepherd, J. W., ed. A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles by David Lipscomb. Volume I. Romans. Second ed. rev. and enl. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1943. 292 p. The commentaries were reprinted many times by Gospel Advocate Company, 1940s-present. In 1997 Gospel Advocate Company published a Spanish language edition under the series title Un Comentario Sobre las Epítolas del Nueve Testamento translated by Lionel M. Cortez.

ESSAYS or CHAPTERS

Introduction, Jarvis, Ida Van Zandt, Texas Poems. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1893.

“Man: His Beginning, Training, and End” in F. D. Srygley, Biographies and Sermons, A Collection of Original Sermons by Different Men, with a Biographical Sketch of Each Man Accompanying His Sermon, Illustrated by Half-tone Cuts. Nashville: [Gospel Advocate Publishing Company] 1898. pp 165-184. Reprinted by Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, 1961.

Introduction. Calhoun, H. L. and M. C. Kurfees. Instrumental Music in the Worship. A Discussion Between H. L. Calhoun and M. C. Kurfees, with an Appendix. Introduction by David Lipscomb, Editor of the Gospel Advocate. Nashville; Gospel Advocate Publishing Company, 1901. 48 p.

“Tolbert Fanning’s Teaching and Influence” pp. 7-111; “Address” p. 358-363; “Notice of the Death of William Anderson” pp. 443-447 all in Scobey, James E. ed. Franklin College and Its Influence. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1906. Reprinted by Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, 1954.

Contributor. Lipscomb, A. B. ed. Christian Treasures, An Exposition of Vital Themes by Earnest and Forceful Writers. Volume 1. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1916.

Contributor. Lipscomb, A. B. ed. Christian Treasures, An Exposition of Vital Themes by Earnest and Forceful Writers. Volume 2. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1916.

BIOGRAPHICAL and INTERPRETIVE

Srygley, F. D. “Life of David Lipscomb,” in F. D. Srygley, Biographies and Sermons, A Collection of Original Sermons by Different Men, with a Biographical Sketch of Each Man Accompanying His Sermon, Illustrated by Half-tone Cuts. Nashville: [Gospel Advocate Publishing Company] 1898. pp 150-164. Reprinted by Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, 1961.

“David Lipscomb Memorial Number’ of Gospel Advocate, 59:49 (December 6, 1917) contains numerous articles, tributes and memorials.

Boles, H. Leo. Biographical Sketches of Gospel Preachers, Including the Pioneer Preachers of the Resotration Movement and Many Other Preachers Through Decades Down to the Present Generation Who Have Passed to Their Reward. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1932. pp. 243-247.

West, Earl Irvin. The Life and Times of David Lipscomb. Henderson: Religious Book Service, 1954.

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Earl Irvin West. The Life and Times of David Lipscomb. Henderson: Religious Book Service, 1954.

Vaughn, J. Roy, “David Lipscomb” in B. C. Goodpasture, comp. The Gospel Advocate Centennial Volume. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956. Ch. 3 devoted to David Lipscomb, pp. 14-40, which includes several articles by Lipscomb.

Barnett, Herman L. “David Lipscomb’s Doctrine of the Church.” MA Thesis, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1956.

Harrell, David Edwin, Jr. “Disciples of Christ Pacifism In Nineteenth Century Tennessee,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, 21:3 (1962): 263-274

Holland, Tom. David Lipscomb: An Example of Ethical Power in Preaching. MA Thesis, Abilene Christian College, Abilene, Texas,1964.

Campbell, Thomas L. The Contribution of David Lipscomb and the Gospel Advocate to Religious Education in the Churches of Christ, Or, David Lipscomb’s Contribution to the Restoration Movement. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, 1968.

Robinson, John Louis. David Lipscomb : Journalist in Texas, 1872. [Quanah, Texas] Nortex, 1973.

Murrell, Arthur V., “David Lipscomb: Moderate in the Middle; or David Lipscomb Reconsidered,” Discipliana 34 (Winter 1974): 43-57.

Seawright, Sandy, “Ten ‘Greatest Tennesseans’—A Reappraisal,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 35 (Summer 1976): 222-224.

Hooper, Robert E. A Call to Remember: Chapters in Nashville Restoration History. [Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1977].

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Robert E. Hooper. A Call to Remember: Chapters in Nashville Restoration History. [Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1977].

Hooper, Robert E. Crying in the Wilderness: A Biography of David Lipscomb. Nashville: David Lipscomb College, 1979.

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Robert E. Hooper, Crying in the Wilderness: A Biography of David Lipscomb. Nashville: David Lipscomb College, 1979.

Hooper, Robert E., “The Lipscomb Family,” Nashville Families & Homes, Paragraphs from Nashville History Lecture Series 1979-1981. Nashville: The Nashville Room, The Public Library of Nashville & Davidson County, 1983, pp. 90-103.

Dunnavant, Anthony L. “David Lipscomb on the Church and the Poor.” Restoration Quarterly, 33:2 (1991): 75-85.

Dunnavant, Anthony L. “David Lipscomb and the ‘Preferential Option for the Poor’ among Post-Bellum Churches of Christ.” Poverty and Ecclesiology: Nineteenth-Century Evangelicals in the Light of Liberation Theology, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992, pp. 27-50.

Brewster, Ben. “Torn Asunder the Civil War, David Lipscomb, and the 1906 Division of the Disciples.” MA Thesis, Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1999.

Foster, Douglas A. “Churches of Christ and Baptism: An Historical and Theological Overview.” Restoration Quarterly, 43:2 (2001): 79-94.

Roberts, R. L. “Lipscomb, David” in Richard T. Hughes and R. L. Roberts, The Churches of Christ. Denominations in America, 10. Henry Warner Bowden, Series Ed. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001: 252-253

Little, David L. “The Aversion to Biblical Interpretation in the Thought of David Lipscomb and Tolbert Fanning.” Restoration Quarterly, 44:3 (2002): 159-164.

Casey, Michael W. “From Religious Outsiders to Insiders: The Rise and Fall of Pacifism in the Churches of Christ.” Journal of Church & State, 44:3 (2002): 455.

Hooper, Robert E., “Lipscomb, David (1831-1917), Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Douglas A. Foster, Paul M. Blowers, Anthony L. Dunnavant, D. Newell Williams, Eds. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004: 480-482.

Hicks, John Mark and Bobby Valentine. Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James Harding. Abilene, TX : Leafwood Publishers, 2006.

Foster, Douglas A. “The 1906 Census of Religious Bodies and Division in the Stone-Campbell Movement: A Closer Look.” Discipliana, 66:3 (2006): 83-93.

Mead, Jason. “An Abandonment of the Christian Religion”: War, Politics, and Society in the Writings of Tolbert Fanning and David Lipscomb, 1855-1876.” Journal of East Tennessee History, 82, (2010): 33-52.

Hooper, Robert E. Crying in the Wilderness: The Life & Influence of David Lipscomb. [Nashville: Lipscomb University, 2011]

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Robert E. Hooper. Crying in the Wilderness: The Life & Influence of David Lipscomb. [Nashville: Lipscomb University, 2011]

Grubbs, Shaun. The Heritage of Pacifism in the Stone-Campbell Movement: A General Study. MA Thesis, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, 2012.

Brown, Joel A. “Concern for the Poor in the Nashville Bible School Tradition: David Lipscomb and James A. Harding.” Restoration Quarterly, 55:2 (2013): 91-106.

 

22nd Avenue Church of Christ, Nashville, TN

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Among the Churches of Christ recently (within the last 40 or so years) closed in Nashville is the 22nd Avenue Church in North Nashville.

Begun as a mission from Twelfth Avenue, North Church in the early 1920’s, Twenty-Second Avenue was always a rather small congregation and never a wealthy or affluent one.

The earliest record I can find of it in the Nashville city directories is in 1926 when it met at 1609 22nd Ave. North.  The 1937 City Directory lists the congregation as meeting at 1626 22nd Avenue North.  On 14 October 1932 the building, presumably at 1609, burned.  In debt and poor (“our membership is composed mainly of people who have little of this world’s goods…”), they met in private homes and a former automobile repair shop on 21st Avenue until funds were raised to buy the corner lot at 1626 22nd Avenue and Osage Street.  Upon it they constructed with donated labor and supplies a small frame meetinghouse. See Gospel Advocate 1933:93.

The photo below is, I assume, of the second building at 1626 22nd Avenue, North:

in 1933 the congregation had three elders, W. T. Phillips, H. V. McCool and A. B. Sweeney, with G. A. Helton serving as Treasurer.  They supported, partially, a “Brother Jones” in Metropolis, Illinois and maintained a “small fund for foreign mission work” in addition to local benevolence ministry.

From 1933 to 1979 my trail grows cold.

By 1979 I understand that 22nd Avenue relocated north of the Cumberland River to 3903 Milford Road.  Alas! I see from Google Maps that whatever structure existed at 3903 Milford Road, it has very recently seen the business end of a wrecking ball.  Milford Road Church of Christ does not appear in the 1983 Where the Saints Meet. A Google search turns up Rose of Sharon Primitive Baptist Church using that address.  Yet if Google Maps is any indication, there is no one meeting in any building at 3903 Milford Road today.  I may have missed my chance to photograph the Milford Road building by a few months.

Who might have information from 22nd Avenue Church of Christ: bulletins, directories or photographs?  Who could fill in any information, at all, in the forty year gap from 1933-1973?  Who has a photograph of the first building at 1609 22nd Avenue? Or of the Milford Road structure?  Who preached for this congregation?  Where did the members go when they disbanded?  Are any former members still living?