Clayborn Temple in Memphis gets $400k grant for preservation

January 13, 2017 at 8:08 a.m. | Updated January 13, 2017 at 8:08 a.m.

by Associated Press

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) speaks to reporters as he departs from the Senate floor after a vote on the 21st Century Cures Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate joined the House in approving the bill, which increases funding for disease research, addresses weaknesses in the nation's mental health systems and vastly alters the regulation of drugs and medical devices. (Al Drago/The New York Times)
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) speaks to reporters as he departs from the Senate floor after a vote on the 21st Century Cures Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate joined the House in approving the bill, which increases funding for disease research, addresses weaknesses in the nation's mental health systems and vastly alters the regulation of drugs and medical devices. (Al Drago/The New York Times)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The National Park Service has awarded Memphis a $400,000 grant for preservation of the historic Clayborn Temple, which served as the home base for the sanitation workers strike that brought civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to the city.

The grant was announced Thursday, along with funding for more than 35 other projects associated with the civil rights movement across the country.

Located downtown, the church was the starting point for a march led by King in support of sanitation workers who demanded better working conditions in March 1968. King also spoke at the church several times.

Shuttered for years, Clayborn Temple is currently being restored.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat, all praised the funding.

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