Slate Springs Tennessee Chapel

I won't go into a full history of the Slate Springs branch here, but I came across some photos of one of their meeting houses and thought I would post an addendum dealing just with this building.

In 1946 two sister missionaries, Rowena Russell and Meta Johnson, began collecting pledges from members for the building a chapel. Friends and local businesses chipped in as well. At the time the Church expected one third of the expected cost to be collected before construction could begin. At the time the branch was meeting in a school house. But when the school moved on to a new building, maintenance of the old building was discontinued making continued use of the building problematic

Land was purchased from Lawrence Smith for $100.00 about 6 1/2 miles north of Crossville on Genesis Rd. I have found no clear address other than a description that it was "above what is known as the Lavender Cemetery" I can only assume this was an early name for the Slate Springs Cemetery which is in about the right location and for which county land records still use the name James Lavender Cemetery.

Construction began in 1951 on a small four room building. It included masonry walls, concrete floors, and an acoustic tile ceiling. There were four rooms a foyer and two restrooms with a wood stove. Construction was slow, taking about 6 years. It was dedicated in 1957.

Land behind the chapel was steep and heavily wooded making it impossible to photograph from that angle.

After the dedication, the branch expanded. Auxiliaries were organized, since they could take advantage of the constant access to the building. In a few years it became obvious that it would soon not be big enough. It would only be used for 20+ years before being replaced by the current building.

For a more complete history of the Slate Springs Branch and what became of it, see here...

http://amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com/2011/07/church-history-in-crossville-tenn-1878.html