Rader Memorial Methodist Church

Founding of Rader Memorial Methodist Church

The Rader Memorial Methodist Church was established in 1923 and was one of the oldest congregations in Miami-Dade County. Reverend F. A. Hamilton preached the church’s first sermon on December 17, 1922. Originally located in Little River, the church was organized on January 7, 1923, as one of four “baby” temples established by White Temple Methodist Church in the 1920s in Hollywood, Hialeah, Little River, and on the Tamiami Trail. It was located in a small structure at 180 Northeast 80th Terrace and called Little River Temple Methodist Church. After its founder, Dr. Luther Stahl Rader, died in 1924, the church was renamed in his honor.

Rev. Luther S. Rader, Pioneer Florida Methodist

Luther Stahl Rader was born in Uhrichsville, Ohio, on January 19, 1860. He graduated from Mount Union College Seminary in 1881 and entered the East Ohio Conference the following year. For nearly a decade, he led congregations in Cleveland, Madison, Twinsburg, and other communities across Ohio.

In 1891, Rader transferred to the St. John’s Conference of the Methodist Church and received his first Florida appointment in Jacksonville. That same year, he became presiding elder of the Eustis district. He later served as pastor of Trinity Methodist Church (1895–1897) and then spent four years in St. Augustine (1898–1902). Returning to Jacksonville, he remained there until 1908.

Rader was appointed to the Miami district in 1908, where he served until 1912 before moving briefly to Fort Lauderdale. In 1914, he returned to Miami and continued his ministry there until 1919. The following year, he was assigned to the Everglades Mission district, where he founded the Methodist church in Okeechobee. He also served as district superintendent in Tarpon Springs for four years.

Although Rader formally retired from active ministry in 1921, he continued working in the church as a Sunday School teacher in Miami, particularly at Little River Temple, which he helped establish. He died on April 19, 1924, after suffering a heart attack while on his way to Miami. Among his last words were, “Yes, I must be there. I must teach my Sunday school class tomorrow.”

A New Edifice for the Growing Church

The increasing growth of the congregation led to a need for expansion, but plans for the erection of a new church building were set back in 1926 by the hurricane that year, which leveled much of the city, followed by the depression. For the next 21 years, the church worked on clearing all its debts.

During the 1940s, the community of Little River grew so rapidly that the Rader Memorial congregation, whose church was located in the center of the business district, decided that a more commodious site was needed in order to expand.

In 1948, it was announced that a site had been chosen for a new church located in the village of El Portal, and would serve the communities of EL Portal, Miami Shores, and Little River. The building committee included Earle Morton Rader, George Thompson, and George Cain. Construction on the building began early that year and was completed in 1952 for $300,000. The architects were Harold Steward and brothers John and Coulton Skinner of Steward and Skinner Associates.

Decline

The church continued to see growth and success during the 1950s and early 1960s, with the large sanctuary often filled to capacity on Sunday mornings. Racism, though, would be the church’s downfall. The church’s decline came in the late 1960s, following the expansion of neighboring Little Haiti. The church’s predominantly white members moved away, known as “white flight,” and the congregation lost more than 1,000 members. The remaining congregation had the problem of having such a large building, but had funds from trusts and the sale of real estate that provided the church with a steady income that would support it for several more years.

By the mid-2000s, the church had one remaining trust fund, and they had begun taking money out of it with the intent to repay the money, but the money was never repaid. The church tried increasing pledges to help supplement the trust fund transfers, but it didn’t help much as the money in the account continued to dwindle.

Hurricane Wilma passed through South Florida in 2015, leaving destruction in its wake. The Rader Memorial Methodist Church building had a gas stove that was used to serve coffee and powdered soup to those in need following the hurricane. A few days later, canned goods and medical supplies that the church had been storing in the building were distributed throughout the neighborhood.

Rader Memorial Methodist Church was a member of the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and, as such, was part of a conference-wide property insurance plan. As a result of the 2015 hurricane season, the church’s insurance rose from $30,000 to $60,000.

Out of options, the congregation voted on merging with another congregation, preferably one that was United Methodist. After much deliberation, the congregation merged with Fulford United Methodist Church, located just a few miles north of the former Rader Memorial Methodist Church.

Abandonment

The former Rader Memorial Methodist Church has been vacant since 2007, when the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami bought the property for $3.6 million. The plan was to convert the building into a convent for nuns, but it never happened due to financial reasons. The archdiocese later had a contract to sell the property to a developer who had plans to convert it into a charter school, but due to opposition from neighboring homeowners, the proposal was denied by the village council.

The property was sold in 2011 for $1.1 million to Mount Olives Church, a Haitian-American Christian church based in North Miami. The property was sold again in 2016 for $3.2 million to Gadinsky and Soriero, through their company, The Sanctuary in El Portal LP. The developer had plans to convert it into an affordable mixed-use space with possible tenants including restaurants, retail, and art galleries, advertised as an alternative to Wynwood, which has become more expensive over the years. With little luck in finding tenants, the building was put up for sale in late 2019. Although it was purchased in 2021, it remains vacant.

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