Community members in mourning after historic Old Louisville church damaged in fire

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Hours after a historic church in Old Louisville caught fire Saturday night, community members stopped by to observe the damage.

A fire started at the former Greater New Hope Community Church at East Jacob and South Floyd streets around 8:25 p.m. Saturday. It took the Louisville Fire Department about two hours to get the blaze under control, during which part of the roof collapsed.

"When you pull up and see this place, you know, looking like it us now, it's a little sad," said Pastor Mario Martin of Praise Nation Contemporary Church, who said he attended Greater New Hope Community Church for years.

Martin painted a picture of a once-vibrant church that is now vacant and damaged by fire.

"I would be here all day just, you know, going over all the different things that happened here," he said. "The miracles that we literally, that we literally participated in."

The church was built in the 1920s and served as the Keneseth Israel Synagogue. The congregation moved to a new location in the 1960s, but the church was home to several others over the years. In 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

HISTORIC OLD LOUISVILLE CHURCH FIRE OLD PIC.jpeg — The church was built in the 1920s and initially served as the Keneseth Israel Synagogue. (Courtesy: University of Louisville)

"Our community is really mourning the loss of this building," said Cantor Sharon Hordes with Keneseth Israel. "Even though they haven't been housed there in so many years. Even though it didn't belong to us. It still did in some way in people's hearts. Many people have grandparents and great grandparents who helped to build that building, helped to finance that building. So there's a huge attachment."

According to online records, the church is up for auction. Those who once called the building home are hoping it will be restored so it can live on for generations to come.

"Hopefully we'll be able to maintain the integrity of it to still be a place where people can receive the healing or help of some sort," Martin said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but the Louisville Fire Department believes it started near the roof. Firefighters told WDRB News it appeared no one was inside at the time of the fire, and no one was injured.

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