Monroe Elmon Dodd, Brazil, TN., then Caddo Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller Date: 1999-2000 *********************************************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm *********************************************** Monroe Elmon Dodd. No profession produces such effective workers for community uplift and. the betterment of humanity than does that of the ministry of God. Its zealous members are taught from the beginning of their training to sacrifice self, and work for others. Consequently their thoughts are constantly busy with the problems of preparing their fellows for right living in this world and meeting God in the next. A striking example of what is being done every day in the ministry is shown in the life and work of Rev. Monroe Elmon Dodd, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Shreveport, president of the M. E. Dodd Foundation, Incorporated, and one of the most enlightened of the effective workers in behalf of religion and education in Northern Louisiana, if not in the South. Monroe Elmon Dodd was born at Brazil, Tennessee, September 8, 1878, a son of William Henry and Lucy (Williams) Dodd, grandson of James Monroe Dodd, and great-grandson of Allen Benjamin Dodd and Capt. Tom Williams. He is connected with the families of McBride and Wade, and others equally prominent in the early history of Tennessee and the spread of religious teaching and the advocacy of an intensely spiritual life. Given the inestimable training of a religious household, Monroe Elmon Dodd grew up on his father's Tennessee farm, and was sent, to the local public schools. From early youth he displayed unusual attributes, and when but fourteen won a silver medal in one of the ten famous "Demorists Prohibition Contests." At the age of seventeen he was graduated from the high school of Brazil, Tennessee, and for one session thereafter taught school. He attended the high school of Trenton, Tennessee, and subsequently entered Union University, Jackson, Tennessee. Throughout his university experience k was very active in the work of the student body, winning practically every medal and prize offered. for debate, declamation and literary contests, as the chosen representative of the university. Not only was he editor-in-chief of the college magazine but he named the college annual "Lest We Forget, and was elected literary editor of it. The first edition which he assisted in issuing has been followed with one each year ever since, and the appropriate name he bestowed upon it is still retained. During the second year at the university this earnest young man was ordained to the Gospel Ministry, in April, 1902, in the First Baptist Church, Trenton, Tennessee. He continued his studies , two years more, and was then graduated, in 1904, with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Oratory. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him in 1908 by Clinton College, the same degree was conferred on him in 1909 by his alma mater, and in 1918 by Baylor University, Waco, Texas. His first charge Fulton, Kentucky, month. When he 140 members, and field, after four was the First Baptist Church d which paid a salary of $50 per month. When he assumed charge there were but 140 members, and when he left, to enter a broader field, after four years of faithful ministration, there was a membership of 400, the church building was completed and cleared of debt, a fine pipe organ was installed, and a comfortable pastor's residence had been built. Feeling an urge for foreign missionary work, Doctor Dodd offered his services as a missionary to Persia, but was sent to Mexico. Conditions , however, were not favorable, and after four months he returned to the United States and to his former pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Fulton, Kentucky. While with the church at Fulton, he made a valuable contribution to church journalism by founding the Baptist Message, which was later combined with the Baptist Builder, and still later the latter was absorbed with the Baptist and Reflector, now the state Baptist paper of Tennessee. In 1908, when only twenty-nine years of age, Mr. Dodd became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Paducah, Kentucky, which church had a membership of over 1.000. His services at Paducah were even more valuable than at Fulton. He started a building program which eventuated in a great temple of worship. When he left the church in that city it was in a most flourishing condition, and the effects of his ministry are still shown in the interest which is fully maintained to this day. In March, 1911, he became pastor of the Twenty-second and Walnut Street Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, at that time the largest Baptist Church in the state. While working ardently in its behalf he was also able to get into chose touch with the faculty and student body of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and to review many books for the Western Recorder. It was in 1911 that Doctor Dodd made his first speech before the Southern Baptist Convention, and it was this masterly address which attracted the attention of several lay members representing the First Baptist Church of Shreveport. The favorable impression he made upon these gentlemen resulted in a call from this church, and, after careful consideration, he assumed the pastorate in April, 1912. In the more than a dozen years of his pastorate in Shreveport Doctor Dodd has increased the membership from 587 to over 3,400 (in 1925), and the annual contributions in cash from $6,000 to over $200,000. In May, 1919, Doctor Dodd preached the convention sermon for the Southern Baptist Convention at Atlanta, Georgia, during which session the great $75,000,000 campaign movement was born. He was flamed a member of the campaign commission and organizer for the state of Louisiana. He not only worked in this own state for the success of this campaign, but also throughout the South. As a result of his splendid efforts the First Baptist Church of Shreveport ranked fifth in its pledges to this great campaign, Doctor Dodd is a great organizer, and does not limit his efforts to purely religious campaigns, but is always in the lead in all measures of moment, and is especially active as a member of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce. He has filled engagements in Bible conferences at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Mountain Lake Park, Maryland; Winona lake, Indiana; Battle Ground, Indiana, many of the ~young Peoples' assemblies of the South, and has appeared on the platform of the best Chautauqua circuit. For years he has served as state member of the Home Mission Board, the Foreign Mission Board, as president of the State Mission Board, a trustee of Louisiana College, Southern Seminary, and Southwestern Seminary. In October, 1907, Doctor Dodd was married to Miss Emma Savage of Jackson, Tennessee, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. G. M. Savage, of Union University, a sweet-spirited lady of great ability, who has nobly shared all her husband's hopes, and sustained him in his high ideals. Five children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Dodd: Dorothy, Helen, Martha Evelyn, Monroe Elmon, Jr., and Lucile. The Dodd family has been represented in every war of this country from the American Revolution to the World war, inclusive. Doctor Dodd is a veteran of the Spanish-American war, in which he served as a member of Company K, Second Tennessee Volunteers, and during the World war he served for six months as religious work director, Y. M. C. A., at Camp Beauregard, following which he was sent overseas. On the trip over he was called upon to officiate in several burials at sea. After reaching Paris he was assigned to Y. M. C. A. work at the front, and he visited and ministered to the soldiers on the field of action, under tire, in the hospitals and places of recuperation. Following the armistice he went on speaking tours in all the overseas camps. Another channel through which Doctor Dodd has reached human souls has been the writing of tracts, among which the most popular have been: "Lovely Louisiana," "Safe If Saved," "From Carmel to Cherith," "Baptists, the Bible and Others," "The Man Christ Jesus," "The Spirit- Filled Life," "The Wise Steward," "Christian Science Morals and Methods ," anti many others. He is also the author of four books, "Jesus Is Coming to Earth Again," Baptist Principles," "The Prayer Life of Jesus," and "The Democracy of the Saints," all of which have had wide circulation. Owing to the fact that the First Baptist Church of Shreveport stands as a monument to the spiritual direction, sound business ability and foresighted executive powers of Doctor Dodd, it is but fitting that a brief description of this massive pile be given, as well as the work of the church body itself. The present church edifice was rebuilt in 1920-22, under the pastorate of Rev. M. E. Dodd, D. D., with the following men members of the building committee: T. G. Roberts, W. E. Compere, J. E. Smitherman, C. C. Herndon, J. J. Lynn and C. C. McCloud, of which T. G. Roberts was chairman, and W. E. Compere secretary. A massive dome crowns the building, together with a noble tower that lifts itself 140 feet above the level of the street. This is a modern church building, with features of unusual character which makes possible a wider service than one constructed according to old-time ideas. This building was erected at a cost of $400,000 and will accommodate 8,000 in all its departments at one time. There is a ladies' tea room, which offers a cafeteria service to business women, at cost, six days in the week, and also weekly luncheons to the men's organizations of the church, monthly luncheons to the church official board, the organized Sunday school classes, church auxiliaries, Boy Scout leaders and other organizations. The roof garden is very, useful for social gatherings, banquets, band concerts, young peoples missionary plays, moving picture Parties, open air services and other church gatherings. The beautiful rooms in the tower, anti the large double parlors of the church, furnish other opportunities for social gatherings, private weddings. group meetings, receptions and various church functions. There is a nursery for the care of children while parents are attending church services. A radio broadcasting instrument sends on a 252 wave length with a 150-watt motor generator, which gives the church services a radius of 1,200 miles. Drinking fountains, equipped with an icing system, are in all the corridors and vestibules. A twenty-passenger elevator operates to the tower. An automobile driveway, with parquet entrance, affords a convenient and comfortable entrance. The floors are hardwood, the furniture is of mahogany, and the handsome carpets are chenille. A noted Florentine artist did the interior decorating, and the entire structure is indirectly lighted with a beautiful soft glow, all of these attributes contributing to the aesthetic value, and are in sharp contrast to the strictly practical utility of the entire plan, which permits not a single inch of space to be wasted. The J. C. Pugh Memorial Library of over 1,200 books of reference, missions, general religious books, historical, biographical, young people's inspirational books and some of the best fiction; the thirteen-bell chime, given by Mrs. Eula McFadin Layne in memory of her husband, Robert T. Layne; and the four-manual Filcher organ, with its harp, silver tube chimes, echo organ, and electric action throughout, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Smitherman, are all memorials erected by church members. An honor roll tablet has been erected by the members of the church in honor of those members who answered their country's call in the World war, and as a memorial to Herbert Avery and John Phaneuf, who made the supreme sacrifice. At the bottom of the long list of soldiers, Y. M. C. A. and Red Cross workers, among which is the name of the pastor, are the following beautiful words: "They served without thought of self that the principles of liberty, justice and equality might prevail for all mankind." Having created a church that is one of the finest and most practical in the South, Doctor Dodd then turned his attention and bent his masterly energies toward carrying to successful termination a project which has lain close to his heart for many years, that of establishing a college for girls, for which a crying need exists. In December, 1921, he took the first decisive steps, and at a meeting, held in time parlors of his church on the last day of the old year, there was organized the "M. E. Dodd Foundation," and volunteer gifts to the amount of $28,900 were presented. In 1924 the Foundation purchased thirty-four acres of ground in the beautiful suburb of South Highlands as a site for the school. This is a very pretentious project, and when completed will be one of the outstanding accomplishments of Doctor Dodd's life, and a credit to the City of Shreveport and the Baptists of Louisiana. Doctor Dodd is the president of the corporation, and the following are his associate officials and directors: Mrs. R. T. Layne, vice president; J. E. Smitherman, George M. Hearne, Ben Johnson, Guy Oakes, James W. Bolton of Alexandria, H. Flood Madison of Bastrop, W. H. Managan of West Lake, E. L. Wegeworth, secretary and treasurer. According to the plans upon which the Foundation is now engaged in maturing, the following special ideas will be emphasized: A junior standard college of first-class grade; two years of high school work; a fine arts department of the highest order; a business and vocational department with particular emphasis upon training girls for their biggest business, namely home making, domestic science and home economics; and a religious educational department with the deep devotional and spiritual interpretation of religious essentials. The present plans of the Foundation propose to press on with this project with a view of opening the school for students in the fall of 1926. The school will be open to all girls of good character regardless of their religious convictions or church affiliation. In addition to all these arduous labors, Doctor Dodd finds time for conducting evangelistic meetings and making wide speaking tours. In 1924 he delivered one hundred twenty-seven addresses in thirty-two cities of eleven states to audiences aggregating 150,000 people. At the time of this writing Doctor Dodd is in the very prime of life and the future looms large with opportunity for still greater service to his God and his fellow man. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 48-50, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.