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  • Vachelle Hayes, a St. Thomas AME Church member, surveys the huge pile of rubble that used to be the church. The church’s roof, then walls, collapsed Saturday, resulting in the necessity to raze the historic North Broad Street structure. Patti Dozier/Times-Enterprise

    CHURCH
September 3, 2012

St. Thomas AME Church crumbles to ground

Patti Dozier CNHI

THOMASVILLE — On a hot, steamy Labor day morning, the St. Thomas AME Church pastor, his wife and several church members gathered at a mountain of rubble that had housed the church for 88 years.

The 700 N. Broad St. church’s demise began Saturday afternoon, when children playing nearby told their grandmother about a loud noise they heard coming from the direction of the church. The grandmother called a church member.

“When we got here, the roof had actually fallen in in the middle,” said Pat Choice, Pastor Clement Choice’s wife.

“Some walls went in, some walls went out,” church member Vachelle Hayes interjected.

Hayes described the collapse as a trickle effect — a little at a time.

Three nearby houses were evacuated when it was feared the church bell tower might fall onto a transformer on the south side of Webster Street.

The remainder of the church was demolished Sunday.

See Tuesday's edition for more details.

 

 

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