4613 Chene Street
Bible Baptist Church, Peace Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
I’ve been struggling to find information about this structure since I shot these photographs over a year ago. Over the years, I’ve shot this building a handful of times. Although it isn’t architecturally significant, it’s a unique little structure that sits mostly alone on an isolated part of Chene Street. I’m unsure when the storefront was built; however, I believe the home is over 100 years old.
In 1901, Matilda Nekrant, a 5-month-old child who called this structure (or the one there prior), died of bronchitis. In the 1900s, this wasn’t uncommon.
After that, I don’t have anything on record until the 1980s. Please let me know if you can help me fill in any information about this time period!
Before we dive into what happened here in the 1980s, we need to understand the backstory of David Lowe.
A Miller High School (Detroit) graduate, Lowe worked at and retired from Chrysler’s Dodge Main factory as a welder in 1975. That same year, he graduated from Detroit Baptist Bible Seminary. At some point prior, Lowe had attended Detroit Bible College.
A Baptist minister since 1946, Lowe was a deacon at Mt. Zion Baptist Church and an associate pastor at Greater New Hope Baptist Church, a congregation his brother Joseph founded. After his brother died in 1973, he became the pastor there. However, it wouldn’t end on a positive note.
In 1984, Lowe was voted out as pastor of Greater New Hope Baptist Church by the congregation, 56 votes to one. According to the Detroit Free Press, it was due to him “discussing personal business of members from the pulpit, having poor communication with members and causing the decline of church membership.”
Lowe wouldn’t go quietly, and things got messy. He argued that the board had no authority to remove him; after all, he and his brother had built that church together. Eventually, a Wayne County Circuit Court Judge had to get involved, ruling in favor of the board, and there was another vote on whether or not to remove Lowe. This time, it resulted in 62 to remove, 26 to keep, and Lowe was banished from the church at 5700 Van Dyke, which is still operational today.
His faith undeterred, Lowe started a new church on Chene Street in the structure pictured here. It was called Bible Baptist Church and was incorporated in 1984. However, Lowe died on March 19, 1987. I assume that, at that point, the church closed its doors. Lowe was a lifelong Detroiter, and in an era where a lot of Poletown East was demolished, who knows whether or not this structure would still be here if it weren’t for him.
In October 1994, Peace Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated on the state level by Reverend Eddie J.D. Pruitt. The organization occupied the structure pictured here; its name is still on the facade.
I haven’t found much online about this parish, but there are numerous adverts in the Detroit Free Press for German Shepherd puppies for sale by Reverend Eddie Pruitt, which is an irrelevant but fun revelation.
The most recent LARA paperwork for the parish is over a decade old, and I’ve never seen anyone using this structure. It appears in rough shape, which is a shame. I don’t have much hope for this one, but it’s incredibly unique and would make for a great mom-and-pop shop or art studio.
After all, where else can you be on a major throughfare and not have any neighbors?
Special thanks to Bruce Harkness for sending me a photo of this one from his archive to help me identify the former parish.
