Clayborn Temple
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Clayborn Temple
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The church from the Historic American Buildings Survey
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| Location | 294 Hernando St, Memphis, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 35°8′7″N 90°3′4″W / 35.13528°N 90.05111°WCoordinates: 35°8′7″N 90°3′4″W / 35.13528°N 90.05111°W |
| Area | 0.6 acres (0.24 ha) |
| Built | 1891 |
| Architect | Kees & Long; E.C. Jones |
| Architectural style | Romanesque |
| NRHP Reference # | 79002478 |
| Added to NRHP | September 4, 1979 |
Clayborn Temple, formerly Second Presbyterian Church, is a historic place in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 for local architectural significance. It was upgraded to national significance under Clayborn Temple in 2017 due to its role in the events of the Sanitation Workers' Strike of 1968. The historic structure was sold to the A.M.E. Church in 1949, which named the building after their bishop.
In 1888, the congregation of Second Presbyterian Church, decided to purchase a lot on the corner of Pontotoc and Hernando for the construction of their new building. Ground was broken for the construction on February 2, 1891, and the cornerstone of the church was laid on May 14. Sunday, January 1, 1893, the church held its dedication service. All the presbyterian pastors of the city joined the congregation for the service.
The congregation moved to East Memphis and sold the building to the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1949. Throughout the 1960s, Clayborn Temple became the city’s staging ground for the civil rights movement, particularly the organizing headquarters of the Memphis Sanitation Strike.
Built in 1891, this Romanesque Revival ecclesiastical architecture has cross gabled roofs, constructed of limestone blocks, rusticated externally with heavy timber framing members forming the roof trusses, nave ceiling with wood beams that are suspended from the roof trusses by 2 x 4 studs. It has several unique features, for instance the chancel is situated in the corner rather that the center of the sanctuary. When Second Presbyterian dedicated its new sanctuary in January 1, 1892, it was the largest church in America south of the Ohio River.
Throughout the 1960s, Clayborn Temple became the city’s staging ground for the civil rights movement. In Memphis, the link between racial and economic injustices in the city became increasingly apparent. Memphis Labor Unions had tried for years to reform Memphis Public Works policies that included discrimination, unfair working conditions, and drastically insufficient wages. The deaths of two city sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker on February 1, 1968, united the Sanitation Workers, labor unions, religious communities, and the black middle class to work together and create a grassroots movement in Memphis.
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