The Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church is a church located at 4461 Twenty-Eighth Street in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1980 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982. The building now houses the Motor City Missionary Baptist Church.

History

In the late 1800s, German-speaking immigrants began moving into southwest Detroit.Motor City Missionary Baptist Church/ Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church
from Detroit1701.org The Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church on Military Street was established in 1882 to service this influx of people. The new congregation quickly swelled, and in 1890, the elders of Zion started a daughter congregation, commissioning the

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countri ...

of Spier & Rohns to design a wooden structure costing no more than $2000 to build. This building is the only known example of a wooden church designed by the firm. The church was completed in 1891; a wooden parsonage was added the next year and a brick school was built in 1923.Motor City Missionary Baptist Church Historic District
from the city of Detroit The latter two building are included in the city historical listing, while on the church is on the National and state listing. The Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in 1891; the congregation used the building until 1976, when they went defunct. The building was purchased by the Motor City Missionary Baptist Church in 1978. The Motor City Baptist Church congregation was organized in 1967 by Rev. John W. Haynes and his wife Inez.

Description

The Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church is a wooden,

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...

chapel.Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church
from the state of Michigan It is frame construction with gables at the ends, a central tower, and vestibule in front. The original clapboard siding still clads the building, although white paint has replaced the original cream-and-gold with red-and-blue accent color scheme. Each side has five tall lancet-arched, stained-glass windows, and the eaves are trimmed with hollow curved brackets and a paneled frieze. The interior is unusually well-preserved. The interior walls feature vertical board wainscoting, with the area above covered in cream painted canvas. The church organ is located on a rear balcony. The altar from Gethsemane is now used by Christ our Savior Lutheran Church in Livonia, Michigan.

References

{{Religious landmarks in metropolitan Detroit Churches in Detroit Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Churches completed in 1891 Lutheran churches in Michigan Carpenter Gothic church buildings in Michigan 19th-century Lutheran churches in the United States Michigan State Historic Sites Spier & Rohns buildings German-American culture in Detroit National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Wooden churches in Michigan