Springfield Church, Glen Allen, VA

This was probably the last known trace of small town country living to still exist in Glen Allen, Virginia, sandwiched between Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart. I took these photos in April, 2007. As of July 27, 2007, the church is gone, but not demolished! After researching this unique bit of local history, I found out Springfield Baptist Church dates back to 1887. After living near farms for several years, and experiencing small town country living, I was saddened to see this church was probably going to be demolished, but thankfully it has been preserved. Here's what I found out. A non-profit group was trying to get the church moved, according to The Goochland Gazette. You can read that story HERE. The church was moved probably the day before I drove by and noticed it was gone, as it was moved that weekend, and barely met the deadline of August 5th. It is now located at The Field Day Of The Past showgrounds on Ashland Road in Goochland County, where it is being rebuilt. You can read about The Field Day Of The Past, which takes place in late September every year, and see updates on the progress of this project HERE. There's more information about this church listed at The Henrico County Historical Society.

Previously, all I knew was, first of all, The Simpsons were never here. Second, a girl I worked with at an office years back told me she lived around the corner from this church, and it was still open to the public at that point. This was about ten years ago, so this church has been abandoned for a few years. I'm also quite sure the girl's house has been demolished by now.

Before the population explosion in the late 80's, this area was known as downtown Short Pump, one of those small towns, where you pass by, you blink, you miss it. There was a country store, hundreds of acres of woods, and a mechanic shop with a busted plane molded into the roof, so it looked like a plane crashed. Heading East up Broad Street, Sam's Club, etc. were farms, and this was all a two lane road for several years. No, I didn't photograph any of this. HOWEVER, I did take several photos of the last farm in Short Pump, before it was demolished to make way for not one, but two huge malls. I will be putting this all online soon. So, stay tuned. Pingeek.

Welcome to Springfield Church, located behind the Best Buy on Broad Street, and just down from Tom Leonard's, a great place to buy fresh produce, by the way. I guess the chalk marks are marking off where the gas lines are or perhaps where the property ends. Look very closely on the left corner behind the giant bushy tree thingy, and you can see a bit of the gas truck. After he left, I drove back around, got out, and took the following pics. I knew if the gas lines were being marked, this building's days were numbered.

A closer look at the church.

I really should have contacted the realtor to see if I could have gotten inside to photograph the place, as it was, unrestored. Notice the stained glass windows and the tin roof.

Windows were boarded up all over the place. Maybe in the end they didn't have the money to replace the windows? I don't know if this church was totally broke in the end, but I do know, synagogues all over the US are going broke too, and a small one recently sold some of their ancient Torah scrolls to pay some of the bills.

This small house has the for mall goes here sign too, right in front between the trees. I'm guessing somebody tried to sell this years back, and was unsuccessful? The bleached white thing was probably another for sale sign.

I doubt this well has been used for quite some time.

Let's take a look around back.

First, here's a shot to the right though, behind Best Buy I think?

An advertisement for a towing company, probably long gone. Who knows what other treasures lie in these ancient weeds?

Gas pipe marker I guess?

A senseless act of vandalism.

Sick.

Hey, missed a spot.

Someone had removed a board from the fence around the private cemetery so I stuck the camera lens in the gap. The graves date back to 1900, according to this article, at the very bottom of the page. There is no word yet on when or if these will be moved.

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