Groundbreaking

After considering whether to move to a new location or to stay on its East Nashville corner, St. Ann's resolved to stay in East Nashville and to renew its ministry of community, communion, and outreach. On New Year's Eve, 1999, the church broke ground for a new building at their old location at 5th and Woodland streets.

"We face the new millennium with joy and trust that our ministry in the shadow of Adelphia Coliseum [note: now LP Field] will grow into the next century just as St. Ann's has ministered in East Nashville during the last two centuries," the Rev. Lisa Hunt, St. Ann's rector, said. 

The groundbreaking ceremony included a vigil service for the New Year, presided over by the Rt. Rev. Bertram N. Herlong, Episcopal bishop of Tennessee.

The parish hall and offices, which had survived the storm, were extensively renovated. Construction costs were funded from insurance money and the proceeds from a $700,000 capital campaign.

"We have an incredibly dedicated, giving, and open congregation," Hunt said. "Rather than seeing the tornado as a curse, our parishioners saw it as an opportunity for a new beginning in a new millennium on the same old corner."

Next - weekly rebuilding updates narrate several months of reconstruction.