The circa-1887 First Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Dayton, Tennessee, now called Trinity Chapel, has been nominated for a designation on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Tennessee State Review Board.
The church at the corner of First Avenue and Church Street dates back to 1887, just 10 years after Reconstruction ended, and it features handmade bricks, an octagonal tower and arched stained-glass windows in a building constructed in the Gothic Revival style.
Its cornerstone reads, “First Avenue M.E. Church 1887.”
John and Lindsey Bamber bought the church in July 2017 from the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. The church had sat empty for about seven years, Lindsey Bamber said last week following the nomination announcement.
“By the year 2000 it had begun to fall into ruin,” Bamber said. “From the stained glass windows, to the working bell from 1889, we’ve brought this gem back to her former glory.”