Maywood Archaeographic

Maywood Archaeographic, originally uploaded by R Doyle Bowman.

Welcome to Archaeographica!

Archaeographica is a blog for the art and study of archaeographics; which is the merging of the historical and the contemporary. Archaeographics utilize historical archaeological images with contemporary photography to create images representing multiple time periods within the same composition.

This is my first posting. I plan to post images with a good deal of back story for each explaining the historical provenience of the referenced images. Below is a summary for the Maywood Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, OK.

The Maywood Presbyterian Church was built in 1907, under the direction of Rev. E.G.Whitwell and Mr. William N. Meredith, architect.

The building is an example of the Victorian Romanesque and the Gothic Revival styles.

In 1907 the congregation of the Maywood Presbyterian church raised funds to erect an new church on Stiles Circle, in what is now midtown, Oklahoma City. During the construction process, funding fell through and the general contractor left the job, taking most of the construction materials.

It fell to the members of the congregation, under the leadership of Rev. Whitwell, to build the church with their own hands. By July 5th, 1908 the church was dedicated.

Due to decades of urban sprawl and suburban flight, the church was sold by it's board of trustees to the Irving Baptist Church. Again in 1956, the church was sold to the Zion Baptist church. These Baptist congregations used the church until August of 1980 when the property was abandoned.

The Church was saved from demolition by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority. Now the original church building and a new modern wing is home to the State of Oklahoma Department of Commerce.