The Augusta Canal Authority has received a federal grant in the amount of $750,000 to begin restoration work on the 132 year-old Trinity Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, located on Taylor Street in downtown Augusta.
According to Canal Authority Executive Director Tyler Snead, the funding is coming from the African American Civil Rights Grant, which is administered by the National Park Service.
“We were contacted by our grant writers, Greenrock Partners, and told that the grant request was awarded to us and so, hopefully, we can begin bidding out the work in June,” Snead said.
Much to the delight of former parishioners of the church, the Canal Authority, with the aid of Historic Augusta, Inc., stepped in and saved the building from the wrecking ball in 2018 and paid to have the structure moved 250 feet off of land owned by Atlanta Gas Light Company to its present location across the street.
Atlanta Gas Light took over the property in a $3 million settlement with Trinity CME Church after it was discovered that the land surrounding the church was contaminated. However, soil remediation could not occur unless the building was either moved or demolished.
Since moving the church, the Canal Authority has properly mothballed the building while looking for funding to begin restoration as well as looking for a possible new use for the building.
Augusta Canal Authority board member Russ Gambill says the plan is to shore up the building and then make it available for sale.
“The building can return to its old life as a church, or it could be a wedding venue and community center like Sacred Heart, there are lots of possibilities,” Gambill said.
Augusta is considered the birthplace of what eventually became the Christian Methodist Episcopal denomination, with the original members gathering in an open air space on Eighth Street before building a structure on Taylor Street around 1843.
The current church was built between 1889 and 1894 by former slaves and their descendants and remained active at that location until the 1990s when the land was deemed contaminated. The church congregation now worships in their building located on Glenn Hills Drive.
According to Snead, the funding will be used to finish shoring up the foundation and putting a new roof on the structure.
“Right now, the roof is our priority. We have been patching it to keep the water out, but it really needs a brand new roof,” Snead said.
.Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
