#USA #MI – A historic church building owned by LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church was gutted by fire late Wednesday night, leaving the 132-year-old structure a total loss and injuring several firefighters.
The fire broke out around 10:55 p.m. on Aug. 26 in a former Seventh-day Adventist church near Oakes Street and Sheldon Avenue, a short distance from the congregation’s main sanctuary on LaGrave Avenue. Firefighters from Grand Rapids Fire Department arrived within minutes of the first 911 call and found heavy smoke and flames pouring from basement windows.
Crews initially attempted an interior attack, stretching multiple hoselines into the basement and main floor. The fire, however, had already spread through walls and void spaces. As conditions deteriorated and parts of the structure began to fail, commanders ordered firefighters out and shifted to a defensive strategy. The sanctuary floor collapsed, along with much of the roof and numerous windows. By Thursday morning the building was considered a total loss. The church’s main campus next door remained undamaged.
Nineteen fire companies responded over the course of the night. Off-duty personnel were recalled to staff extra apparatus so crews on scene could rotate. Four firefighters were injured during the operation: two were struck by falling bricks, one suffered overexertion, and another fell down a stairway. Most were treated and released the same day.
The destroyed building dated to 1894, when it opened as All Souls Universalist Church. It later served a Seventh-day Adventist congregation before LaGrave Avenue CRC acquired the property. Church leaders had been preparing to renovate the structure into a housing respite center in partnership with Mel Trotter Ministries and Dégagé Ministries, a project intended to serve neighbors facing housing insecurity in the Heartside neighborhood. Those plans were halted by the fire.
Rev. Peter Jonker, a minister at LaGrave Avenue CRC, expressed sadness over both the loss of the historic building and the disruption of the planned ministry. Fire investigators continued examining the scene Thursday and Friday; no official cause had been released.
The fire left a prominent downtown landmark in ruins and underscored the challenges of fighting fires in older masonry buildings with hidden voids. Firefighters remained on scene into Thursday afternoon, cooling hot spots beneath collapsed debris.
Cover Image: Smoke seen rising up the ruins of the Reformed Church.
