Elvis' Childhood Church Moves to Museum

 

The Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation in Tupelo announced Wednesday it bought the building that once housed the First Assembly of God Church in Tupelo, where Elvis and his family once attended services. Wednesday workers removed the building from it's foundation on Berry Street and moved it over to the museum. Coordinators said the church may bring in new visitors and draw in some returning patrons.

 

“It'll bring a lot of people who have been to our place, now that we have a new venue they'll come back and see it as well and being the original church makes it even more interesting,” Dick Guyton, executive director of the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation said.

 

The building has been a house for the past 50 years; coordinators said they have a lot of work ahead of them to renovate the building to look how it did when Elvis attended the church. Guyton said it should be ready just in time for Fan Appreciation Day in August.

 

Source : www.wcbi.com

 

Some more information on the story B)

 

First Assembly Of God Church Added To Tupelo Birth-grounds

 

Come this August, visitors to the Elvis Presley Birthplace will have something new to see. On Wednesday, Dick Guyton, executive director of the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation, announced that the church Presley attended as a child will become part of the attraction. The foundation owns the birthplace.

 

Immediately after the announcement, the First Assembly of God Church was moved from nearby 1358 Berry St. to a temporary home behind the memorial chapel. Guyton said the foundation will restore the building to what it looked like in the ’40s and open it to the public in August. It will be placed about 100 feet south of the chapel.

 

“Elvis was probably more influenced by his church and black church music than anything else,” Guyton said, noting that this is part of a long-term plan to add more attractions to the birthplace. “The chapel was his desire for a memorial. This will give a total concept to the visitor of Elvis’ music - where it started and how it ended.”

 

Six years ago, the foundation added the statue of Elvis at 13 to the grounds of the birthplace. Last week, a Blues Trail marker was unveiled. The foundation plans to build a walkway around the two-sided sign soon.

 

The church project is being funded by ticket sales and gift shop purchases and by a $40,000 donation from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Al Servati, division manager for the Carpenter Co., which has a manufacturing plant in Tupelo, said the Carpenter Foundation decided to get involved because this is “something that will attract people to Tupelo and attract new businesses.”

 

“It will benefit the entire community and hopefully Carpenter as well,” he said.

 

For the past 42 years, the church has been Lawrence Stanford’s home. He said he would have people come by his house every year and take pictures of the building.

 

He’s remodeled it over the years, but the additions were stripped down to reveal the original siding and flooring from Presley’s day.

 

“I hate to see it go. I got used to living in it,” he said, watching the moving company pulling it up the hill to its new home. He sold the building recently and moved two houses down the street. And as his former house rolled onto the birthplace property, he said it was nearing its home.

 

“I feel good about it going up there,” Stanford said. “I really do.”

 

It’s a sentiment the Presleys most likely would share, said Guy Harris, a childhood friend of Elvis.

 

“I think he would be well-pleased with this deal,” said Harris, who attended the neighborhood church often. “This is part of him and something he did. Same with Gladys and Vernon because they went here too.”

 

Source: ElvisMatters / Updated: Jan 17, 2008

More information and pics of the move from elvis.com B)

 

TUPELO, MISS. -- The Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation today announced the newest venue at the Birthplace and Park will be the church where Elvis learned the basic chords he needed to begin the trek that ultimately made him the “King of Rock and Roll.”

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/TupeloChurch1.jpg

 

Foundation Executive Director Dick Guyton said the original structural of the First Assembly of God in East Tupelo, until recently used as a private residence, will be relocated today to the Birthplace grounds and completely restored as it was when Elvis and his family worshiped there.

 

“The church will be within 100 feet of the existing memorial chapel built by fans’ donations at the Birthplace,” said Henry Dodge, Chairman of the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation. “This will present the full life cycle of the gospel music of Elvis, from the roots learned as a boy in the historical original church to the Birthplace memorial chapel where the contemporary gospel music of Elvis is constantly played. This will be the only place in the world where fans can have that experience,” Dodge added.

 

The structure, which had been located at 1358 Berry Street, will move to a site just south of the chapel. Access to the south parking lot behind the chapel will be relocated, and the church placed approximately 100 feet from the chapel entrance, Guyton said.

 

“The First Assembly of God Church in East Tupelo was at the center of the Presley family’s life and provided the social structure as well as entertainment on which the family thrived. Young Elvis regularly sang in church, as did many of the members, but according to his minister, Brother Frank Smith, Elvis was fascinated with music and the prospect of learning to play the guitar. Brother Frank taught Elvis how to make a D chord, an A chord and an E chord…all he needed to play “Ole Shep,” Guyton said.

 

Church, and especially the music of the church, was the motivation for Elvis to become a performer. After the Presleys moved to Memphis in 1948, Elvis regularly went to the all night gospel sings at Ellis Auditorium, near his home in Lauderdale Courts. His burning ambition was to become a member of a gospel quartet. He never realized his dream of becoming a member of the Statesmen or the Blackwood Brothers. He had other worlds to conquer. Throughout the rest of his life, Elvis recorded many of the beloved songs of his youth, the emotional and uplifting music of the church.

 

The actual building where the Presley family attended services is itself an artifact. Through original photographs of this church and other churches of this area, we will restore the inside and outside of the building to the look of 1940.

 

The Assembly of God Pentecostal church services of this time period will be described and featured in a multi-media presentation. The plain, humble structure will greatly contrast with the lively and intense nature of the sermons and the music.

 

Small groups of visitors will be admitted to the church, the optimum number will be 10 to 15 people at a time. A docent will invite them inside. Once visitors take a seat in the center of the church, the docent will turn a key switch that activates the first projector. The entire presentation is about 10 minutes in length. During heavy traffic times the maximum time between tours will be 15 minutes.

 

The presentation will introduce visitors to aspects of a “neighborhood church” in Elvis’ day and explain the Assembly of God religion. “We plan to film an actual church service in the renovated church using several cameras at different locations,” Guyton said.

 

A four-minute introductory segment will be shown on the center wall located behind the pulpit. Included will be an overview of the Pentecostal religion, the Assembly of God denomination, and southern Christian churches of the 1940’s.

 

“We have been working on this quite some time,” Guyton said. “We appreciate the cooperation of the Stanford family and the valuable assistance of real estate professional Tina O’Quinn in helping us acquire the structure. Additionally, Elvis’ boyhood friend Guy Harris was instrumental in helping us locate the structure.

 

“We have made many significant changes at the Birthplace and park over the past several years as we continue to find exciting new ways to continue to tell the story of the innocence of Elvis,” Guyton said.

 

The project is being funded by the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation from ticket sales and gift shop purchases of fans, and by a $40,000 donation from the Carpenter Foundation.