The Whites Creek Church of Christ was started back in the summer of 1902. At that time, about five families made up this congregation. Brother W. T. Mackie was the preacher. He had attended the Nashville Bible School which later became David Lipscomb College.
Among the families who worshipped at that time were the Mackies, the Woodroofs, the Bennetts, The Blunkalls, and the Owenses, my mother being a charter member. My father was baptized some four or five years later. I was born January 1, 1903 and I can just remember when he was baptized.
The first meeting place of the congregation was a one room school house known as the Weaver School. It was located on the hillside on Whites Creek Pike, north of Old Hickory Boulevard. After a few years, a lot was purchased in Whites Creek by the congregation.
A tent meeting was held on the ground that same year and it was sponsored by the Joseph Avenue Church of Christ. The next year the church was built by the members on that lot. There was neither contractor nor builder. It was known as Buford’s Chapel, named for brother Buford who was one of the first preachers. In later years, the church moved from this location further south on Whites Creek Pike. The lot was one acre. We had the lot and $1,000 in a building fund when we started to build. This was during depression days in the early 1930’s. The members did the work. We bought cement and the men dug the basement with pick and shovel and teams with ponds scoops. We worshipped in the basement until 1934 when the auditorium was built.
Dallas Gupton was the overseer when the auditorium was built. Brother Gifford had a farm with timber on it and he gave the church the timber and Brother Herman Thompson and others cut and hauled it to the sawmill and then traded some of it for pine to be used in some parts of the building.
We were a small church with little money, but blessed with a large amount of good working people. We obtained a loan of $2,000 at 2 percent interest from the Twelfth Avenue Church of Christ. One of the church members had left money to that church for the sole purpose of lending it to churches for building purposes.
During World War II, a building was built at the rear of the church to house a bus. The church used the bus to bring people to church while the gas rationing on the war was in effect. This church bus was one of the first church buses in Davidson County. As the church grew, Sunday School rooms were built behind the auditorium. Then later the office and two additional rooms were finished in the late 1940s.
The church continued to flourish until the membership was so small that it closed its doors March 1, 2015. The building was bought in 2016 by the Minerva Foundation. The mission of The Minerva Foundation is to provide resources for public service programs and activities which recognize, encourage and promote education, historical and cultural experiences for intergenerational members of our community.
Information about Whites Creek Church of Christ documented by Walter E. Owens, November 1979