After the move to 3900 West End Avenue, Westminster’s congregation grew rapidly. By 1940, the church’s membership exceeded 1,100 but the facility had no education building. During World War II, with shortages of building material and workmen, Westminster purchased a residence at 3810 West End Avenue, less than a block from the church. There they crowded over five hundred children and young people in every corner from the basement to the attic for classes every Sunday morning.
The minister succeeding Murdock MacLeod in 1940, Dr. William Phifer, Jr, led a campaign to expand the church facility immediately after World War II ended. The first educational wing (currently the church offices and choir rooms) was completed two years later in 1947. Westminster Kindergarten, Nashville’s first Protestant kindergarten, was also opened in 1946.