City Of Decatur To Buy United Methodist Children’s Home

Update -- 9:45 p.m. -- The city of Decatur will purchase the United Methodist Children's Home for $40 million, both parties announced Monday night.

As part of the deal, the city has agreed to preserve the historic Moore Chapel and the gravesite of UMCH’s founder, the Rev. Dr. Jesse Boring.

Original story below:

DECATUR, GA -- At a news conference planned for Monday night, representatives of the United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH) and Decatur are poised to update the public on the process to sell the historic site and, possibly, announce a new home for the center, which has served the area's needy for nearly a century and a half.

The news conference is slated to begin about 8:30 p.m. following Monday's Decatur Board of Commissioners Meeting at the City Hall Commission Meeting Room on 509 N. McDonough Street.

The relocation of UMCH has been seen as a blow to the Decatur area, although it is not known where its new home will be.

To the chagrin of scores of community members, the children's home announced in January that it was putting the 77-acre campus on South Columbia Drive up for sale. An air of uncertainty has swirled around the facility since then, with many people fearing that a new housing development could take its place.

The United Methodist Children’s Home, founded with the mission to aid orphans of the Civil War, is a fixture of the community that serves today as temporary housing for young people who have moved out of foster care or troubled homes.

In 40 counties across Georgia, UMCH serves more than 240 children and adults a day.

Image via Google Street View