Leonard George Carr (October 25, 1902 – June 17, 1976) was a Baptist minister from Philadelphia and the founder and pastor of Vine Memorial Baptist Church.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5a/LeonardGCarr.png/170px-LeonardGCarr.png)
Born to an African American family in Charlottesville, Virginia, Carr was the son and grandson of ministers.[1] In 1917, Carr and his family moved to Philadelphia, where he attended public schools and, later, Temple University.[2] After Temple, Carr enrolled at Lincoln University and graduated with honors in 1933.[1] In 1921, he married Lora Beatrice Brown.[1] After her death, Carr remarried in 1952 to Juanita LaNina Matthews, with whom he had one daughter.[1][2]
In 1932, while still a student at Lincoln, Carr was selected by a group of Baptists in West Philadelphia to become the pastor of what would soon become Vine Street Baptist Church.[3] Carr's skill as a preacher soon became well-known, and in 1936 he was elected President of the Baptist Ministers' Conference for the Philadelphia region.[1] In 1943, he was elected president of the Pennsylvania Baptist State Convention.[1] Two years later, the church's growth led to the search for larger accommodations; they purchased the Palatinate Church at 56th & Girard Avenue and renamed it "Vine Memorial Baptist Church".[3]
Under Carr's leadership, the church's growth continued after World War II. He set up a mission to Sierra Leone in 1950, called the Vine Memorial Baptist Training School.[1] Carr continued his education, earning doctoral degrees from Lincoln in 1950 and from Virginia Seminary and College in 1953.[2] By 1957, the church expanded again, constructing additional buildings at the 56th & Girard location.[3] In 1960, Republicans nominated Carr for a seat on the Philadelphia City Council in a special election that year, but he was unsuccessful, losing to Democrat George X. Schwartz.[4]
On June 17, 1976, while in his forty-fourth year as pastor of Vine Memorial, Carr died at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood. After a service at his church, he was buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g VMBC 2017a.
- ^ a b c d Inquirer 1976.
- ^ a b c VMBC 2017b.
- ^ Inquirer 1960.
Sources
edit- "Pastor To Run For City Council". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 9, 1960. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Rev. Leonard Carr, of W. Phila". The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 22, 1976. p. 5-D – via Newspapers.com.
- "Founder's Biography". Vine Memorial Baptist Church. 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
- "Church History". Vine Memorial Baptist Church. 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017.