Arlington Abbey: History of the Building

6183 and 6195 Quintard, Arlington, TN

By Catherine Wilson, Ed.D.

Arlington Abbey, on the corner of Brown and Quintard Streets, has a long history in the story of Arlington, Tennessee. This house of worship was founded in Haysville (sometimes referred to as Withe/Wythe Depot) as a Presbyterian church. In Rachel Burrow’s Arlington: A Short Historical Writing of the Town (1962) the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is described as “the oldest church in Arlington, having been established in 1871” (Shelby County Registrar of Deeds, 1985; Davies-Rodgers, 1965; Burrow, 1962, p. 36).

John Brown donated the land for the church. According to the Shelby County Registrar’s office, it was “Lot number 55 of the recorded plan of Haysville (Withe Depot)” and documented as a “deed of conveyance . . . to the Memphis Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of the U.S. of America, Sept. 1, 1871, recorded in Book 126, p. 60” (Burrow, 1962; Shelby County Registrar’s Office of Deeds, 1985).

The building was “two stories high; the upper part was a church auditorium and the lower part was used for various community enterprises throughout the years” including as a private school until 1883. One of the early teachers was Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Mollie) McElree, whose husband the Reverend Robert L. McElree (1833-1906) was one of the first pastors. Several other teachers also served and included Reverend R. A. Cody, the Reverend A. W. McDowell, Mr. Gracey; and Mrs. Florence Patrick (Burrow, 1962; Find A Grave n.d.a & n.d.b.).

Members of the church included several of Arlington’s early settlers. Alonzo Walter Acred arrived in 1898 and served as the village blacksmith. Dr. James Preston Bone had served in the Civil War as a physician. He came to the village in 1876 where he opened a practice and drug store. The Marian Gentry Brockwell family settled in the area 1885 and worked as farmers, in the insurance business and as grocers. William Henry Gragg and his wife Ola, came to Arlington in approximately 1911. Mr. Gragg had become disabled from a stroke, but his wife was active in the Arlington community. She brought her husband to church in his wheelchair every week where she taught Sunday School. Mrs. Gordon Richardson’s family settled in Arlington in the late 1890s and owned homes and several businesses in the town. Other members included A.L. Kirkpatrick, Arthur Land, Vernie Land, and Harvey Wylie (Burrow, 1962; Davies-Rodgers, 1965, 1990).

The longest serving pastor of the church was the Reverend Charles Albert Davis (1866-1951) who began his tenure as a missionary for the entire Memphis area in 1906. He and his wife Ella lived in Arlington and raised a family there. Reverend Davis was greatly respected in the community, and within church circles locally, and statewide. He served as the church’s pastor for nearly 50 years and the leadership of the church renamed the building Davis Memorial Church in his honor in 1945. He and his wife are buried in Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, TN (Burrow, 1962, Ancestry.com).

Although the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had been operating for over 50 years, by 1962 the congregation was inactive and the building “reverted to the supervision of the Memphis Presbytery, Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tennessee” (Burrow, 1962, p. 38). In the years following, several church denominations owned the building.

In 1960, the church building became available for rent and the Church of Christ (COC) rented the building for $35.00 per month. The COC had been meeting in the home of Claude and Louise Hannah on Quintard St (formerly Church St) next to what is now the Abbey. This congregation began to meet in late 1957/early 1958. When the Cumberland Presbyterian Church became available for rent, this allowed the COC to grow. The COC continued to meet in the building until June 1972 when the building at 5999 Polk was built and the congregation moved there (Ruby Hannah, personal communication, April 15, 2019).

In 1985 the Presbytery quit-claimed the building to to the trustees of Arlington Pentecostal Church (APC) for “$10.00 and other good and valuable considerations.” The APC purchased a second lot, next to the first, in 1987 for $6000. The records in the Shelby County Archive describe the lot as:

Lot 54 of the plan of Haysville, now Arlington known as 6195 Quintard (Church Street Parcel #D01 42 156, and being same property conveyed to Paulina S. Copper by Warranty Deed of record in Book 1291, Page 245 of Registrar’s Office of Shelby County, Tenn. and same property wherein life estate granted to Blanche S. Battle, by William Cunningham, Bell C. Douglass, and John P. Douglass of Record Book 1849, Page 454 of Registrar’s Office of Shelby County, Tenn. (Shelby County Registrar of Deeds, 1985, para 1; Shelby County Registrar of Deeds, 1987).

The APC quit-claimed the deed to the trustees of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) for $1.00 in 1994. The CAC used the building until 2007 at which time the church building and the adjacent lot were sold to the trustees of the Arlington Baptist Fellowship Church (ABFC) under a warranty deed for “$10.00 cash in hand paid, and other good and valuable considerations” (Shelby County Registrar of Deeds, 1994, 2007).

Vickie Parker purchased the property in 2017 from the ABFC, restored the building and renamed the property—Arlington Abbey. This nearly 150-year-old building now serves as a non-denominational church and event venue in the heart of Arlington (Shelby County Registrar of Deeds 2017).

References

Burrow, R. H. K. (1962). Arlington: A short historical writing of the town. Arlington, TN: E.H. Clarke & Bro.

Davies-Rodgers, E. (1965). The holy innocents. Jackson, TN: McCowat-Mercer Press.

Davies-Rodgers, E. (1990). Along the old stagecoach road. Brunswick, TN: Plantation Press.

Find a Grave (n.d.a.). Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Smith McElree. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51506903/mary-elizabeth-mcelree

Find a Grave (n.d.b.). Robert L. McElree. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51506903/mary-elizabeth-mcelree

Find a Grave (n.d.c.). Rev. Charles Albert Davis. Retrieved from https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=60525&h=57505537&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7884

Shelby County Registrar of Deeds, (1985). W45371, Quit-claim deed from Cumberland Presbyterian Church to Arlington Pentecostal Church. Retrieved from https://gis.register.shelby.tn.us/?address=6183%20Quintard

Shelby County Registrar of Deeds. (1987). AFO273, Warranty deed from William B. Cunningham ET AL. to Arlington Pentecostal Church. Retrieved from https://gis.register.shelby.tn.us/?address=6195%20Quintard

Shelby County Registrar of Deeds. (1994). ET1861, Quit-claim deed from Arlington Pentecostal Church to Christ Apostolic Church. Retrieved from https://gis.register.shelby.tn.us/?address=6183%20Quintard

Shelby County Registrar of Deeds. (2007). 07040743, Warranty deed from Christ Apostolic Church to Arlington Baptist Fellowship Church. Retrieved from https://gis.register.shelby.tn.us/?address=6183%20Quintard

Shelby County Registrar of Deeds. (2017). 17079990, Warranty deed from Arlington Baptist Fellowship Church to Vickie Parker. Retrieved from https://gis.register.shelby.tn.us/?address=6183%20Quintard

U.S. Census, Shelby County (1910). Charles A. Davis. Retrieved from https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7884&h=27451611&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=SbI50&_phstart=successSource

The Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America
The Historical Library and Archives
8207 Traditional Place
Cordova, TN 38016
Telephone: 1-901-276-8602
Fax: 1-901-272-3913
E-mail: archives@cumberland.org