This Week in Texas Methodist History October 17, 2021 Polk Street Methodist in Amarillo Dedicates Church Building (Finally) October 21, 1943 In Methodist tradition a new church building is consecrated for service when construction is complete, and the building is usable. When the construction debt is paid, the building is then dedicated. Unfortunately all too often years pass between the two ceremonies. Such was the case with the premier Methodist church of the northern Panhandle, Polk Street Methodist. Polk Street had built a new church in 1928 at a cost of $499,000. You know what happened next. The stock market collapsed the next year ushering in the Great Depression. Natural disaster in the form of the Dust Bowl then hit the Panhandle. Agricultural receipts from both farms and ranches in the Panhandle plummeted. The collapse of the agricultural economy rippled through banks, implement companies, repair shops, and also churches. Polk Street Methodist struggled to pay off its construction debt, some of which was borrowed at 8% interest. When Rev. Earl Hamlett arrived in 1940, he found the church still owed $54,000. As the Depression worsened, some lenders scaled back payments to whatever the churches could pay, since no bank wanted to foreclose on a church. Some banks even forgave a portion of the debt. Polk Street struggled, but managed to pay off the debt without such measures, and on October 1, 1943, made the last payment on the debt. Bishop Ivan Holt came to Polk Street on October 21, 1943 to dedicate the building---finally.