Historic Church Faces Demolition

Members of the Monroe City Council were told that a historic building is facing the demolition ball if the owners doesn’t make the necessary repairs. The Martin Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church located at 1906 Adams St. Monroe LA was the only structure on the council’s agenda for proposed condemnation. The building has been in disrepair for some time, and the city was moved to bring it before council members for their consideration. The city, through Code Enforcement, had given members a 24-hour notice of condemnation prior to Tuesday (Nov.12) night’s council meeting so that they could explain any contingency plans that they had. Code Enforcement told council members that the building in its present state is a hazard in the neighborhood. The building was also deemed unsafe after the roof needed replacing which caused debris to accumulate inside of the structure. The building is now boarded up, and hazard street cones are placed in front of it to alert pedestrians and motorists that pass by the church.

The pastor and one of the church elders was at the council meeting and told council members that they recognize the church is in serious need of repair. They said that their goal was to renovate the church after fixing the roof, which pictures of the structure showed that they did. But the difficulty they said, was in securing funding to repair/renovate the structure. Though the building is a historic landmark in the city, they acknowledged that the building can’t exist in its current form. They are hoping that a private benefactor will be able to secure funds or find other avenues to save the structure. If things come to the worst, and the building will have to come down, they said that help would be needed to pay for a demolition. But they said that they are “holding onto faith” in hopes that something can be done. Code Enforcement also said that the structure is possibly in danger of falling, and that are vagrants who sometimes are in the structure for shelter.

Somber words by council members and Mayor Jamie Mayo led by Councilman Mike Echols, was said as each of them expressed condolences and sadness after learning that Dist.4 Councilman Kenneth Wilson lost another member(daughter)of his family over the weekend. Wilson, they all said is going through so much this year, as this is the third(sister and nephew)relative to have passed this year. It was also announced that Monroe Fire Chief Terry Williams’ mother had also passed. They asked for prayers for Wilson and Williams and their families.

Photo Martin Temple Church