Elm Street Methodist Church

As Rutledge Hill was the most desirable residential neighborhood after the Civil War, several new churches were established in the area. They included Central Baptist, Westminster Presbyterian, College Street Baptist, and Grace Church. As the city expanded, residents moved away from the downtown core and, as a result, some of the churches were razed for redevelopment. However, several church buildings stayed put here on Rutledge Hill. Three maintain active congregations today—Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ, Church of the Holy Trinity, and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. Other buildings have found other uses, such as St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church on Fourth Avenue South (now the Bell Tower), and this building, formerly the Elm Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

Originally a Presbyterian church, the building was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War. After the war, Methodists from downtown’s McKendree Methodist Church planted a new church here and rehabilitated the building in an Italianate style with a large central tower and cupola. Fire destroyed the central tower in 1925. From 1871 to 1971, a hundred years exactly, Elm Street Methodist held services here. The building sat vacant until the 1990s when Tuck Hinton Architects restored it for use as their main office. The building has been renovated once again as Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door Distillery and Center for the Arts. From church services to counter culture icon—this building has endured.

As already noted, Rutledge Hill was the center of Nashville’s educational community as evidenced by nearby street names: Academy, College, University, and Peabody Streets. Also, Lindsley Avenue was named for Philip Lindsley, the first president of the University of Nashville. Across Elm Street, opposite the church, once stood Vanderbilt University’s Medical School and teaching hospital. Vanderbilt also had ties to the Methodist church, which governed its board until 1914. Though the building is no longer here, imagine Vanderbilt medical and nursing students scurrying in and out of the hospital to go to class or start their shift in the hospital. In fact, the first M.D. awarded by Vanderbilt was right here in 1875. The first graduate was Dr. Henry William Morgan. Dr. Morgan later served as the Dean of Vanderbilt’s Dental School from 1911 to 1919. 

Continue north on Fifth Avenue South toward Broadway. After you pass Rocketown on your right, you will cross over Lea Avenue. The next stop, Workman’s Circle Hall is nestled between two larger buildings on your left.