Rev. W. Murdoch Macleod (1934-1940) grew the congregation membership to 1,174, in spite of constant appeals for the $100,000 building fund. Young men like Henry Goodpasture and Sam K. Harwell, Jr. led the monumental task of getting money out of a congregation still caught in the bite of the Depression. At that time, West End Methodist was church farthest out West End Avenue; in fact, there was no church in a 15-square mile area lying west of West End Methodist. Moore Memorial decided the “Richland area” was the place for their new church.
By January 1936, the congregation agreed to buy the front yard of the Gray estate at 3900 West End Avenue for $24,000. The architectural firm of Warfield and Keeble was engaged to design a classic colonial church, with white columns and a tall steeple as the only ornamentation. It proved to be a turning point in Nashville’s church style — no other church of the kind existed here then, and after it dozens of them popped up on the landscape.
Few Moore Memorial members remembered for whom the church was named more than 60 years earlier and the congregation decided to rename the church. After narrowing down many options, the congregation took the final vote on March 7, 1937: 102 for Westminster and 62 for St. John’s. One disappointed member said she hoped that the congregation would learn how to spell and pronounce Westminster correctly.