Discussions over tearing down historical church

Barbourville, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWSNOW) — Wayman chapel has been sitting on Old 25 East for more than 100 years. Recently, members received news it was going to be torn down.

“I just about passed out; I got so weak in the knees I got so lightheaded,” Michelle Johnson said. She’s been attending the church ever since she was a little girl, and now serves as the head trustee and secretary of Wayman Chapel.

The African American church in Knox County carries a lot of history for a lot of people. It is one of the last standing buildings in the county’s Rosenwald Community.

“Everything else is gone and that is why it is so important that we don’t tear our church down,” Johnson said.

Members of the church met with state representative Tom O’Dell Smith on Thursday to discuss the plans to tear down the chapel.

“I wanted to let them know that I was on their side and that we’ll work together, and we’ll try to come up with a remedy,” Smith said.

He’s referring to a remedy for the high number of pedestrian deaths that happen on the street in front of the church. Smith says the project would expand the road, meaning Wayman Chapel would be torn down.

The state offered the congregation $25,000 for the property. Members voted to keep their church.

“Why would I want to go up there and work to try and bring projects in and it be a negative in the community,” Smith said. “I’m not going to do that.”

After having a conversation in the chapel, Smith apologized for any miscommunication. He says he wasn’t aware church members didn’t know about the project until recently.

“Nobody knew what was going on,” Johnson said. “The pastor, the presiding elder, the bishop or nobody.”

When a surveyor showed up to the church, members were upset and worried, but determined to put up a fight.

“We’ve heard so many times, so many people say that this was a done deal, nothing that we could do about it,” Johnson said. “I said ‘oh yes it’s something that we can do about it, I said God has the last say.'”

Smith says he plans on bringing the church’s decision back to Frankfort. Johnson says she is still hesitant that the church will stay standing until she sees something in writing.