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The Old Army Chapel on North Poplar Street
The church facility that houses Hope Baptist Church is one of Cowan’s more interesting landmarks with a long, complex history. The wood-frame church building with its large front spire was originally a chapel for Camp Forrest in nearby Tullahoma. Camp Forrest existed between the years 1941 and 1946 as a training camp for the U.S. Army during WWII. At the completion of WWII, Camp Forrest was disbanded and its assets sold at auction. In this exact timeframe, members of the Cowan community were busy organizing a new Methodist congregation that was temporarily holding services at Cowan Public School. The old army chapel was purchased by the Methodists and moved to its present location on North Poplar Street adjacent to the Public School. The church formally opened on April 14, 1948. The advent of the Interstate Highway started a realignment of populations from rail-oriented communities to road-oriented communities. Cowan fell victim to the changing demographics and began a slow, steady decline in population and economic strength. The Methodist congregation meeting in the old army chapel was no longer sustainable on its own. In 1962, the Methodists entered into conversations with the Cowan Presbyterian Church on a possible union congregation that would share assets and resources. On June 17th, 1962, the two congregations reached a union agreement and adopted the name Cowan Fellowship Church. Cowan Fellowship met in the former Presbyterian Church for the first few years and used the army chapel as a youth and fellowship building. In 1965 the congregation sold the Presbyterian building to a newly organized (and short lived) Church of God congregation. The entire Cowan Fellowship Church relocated to the army chapel, but the aging facility was scarcely adequate. Cowan Fellowship Church broke ground for a new building on March 1, 1968 and moved into the new facility the very next year. The old army chapel sat vacant for a few years before it was acquired by Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga. For more than a decade, the building was used as a training chapel and for pastoral students at Tennessee Temple University. In the late 1980’s, the chapel was abandoned. In 1992, members of the community organized and chartered Hope Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Bill Owens. The congregation acquired, repaired and upgraded the old army chapel for their own use. Today, the old army chapel houses an active and growing congregation.
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