Roberts Chapel
About this property
Roberts Chapel, is a non-denominational church that was originally built in 1847 at Roberts Settlement, one of Indiana's early black pioneer communities. The rural church, whose main building dates from 1858, is located near the present-day town of Atlanta in rural Jackson Township, Hamilton County, Indiana. The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Roberts Chapel originated as a Methodist congregation named Mount Pleasant, which was established in 1838 at Roberts Settlement in rural northwestern Jackson Township, Hamilton County, Indiana. The rural farming community was named in reference to the large contingent of residents who had the surname of Roberts. Most of its settlers were free blacks and mixed-race people who migrated from Beech Settlement in Ripley Township, Rush County, Indiana. The majority of these early pioneers had migrated to Indiana from eastern North Carolina and Virginia due to more oppressive government acts against free blacks following Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831. Some of them initially settled in Ohio, before continuing west. A small number of free blacks who resided in Beech Settlement had come with Quaker families from the Old South. Other early settlers were ex-slaves. The settlement's Methodist congregation built a log meetinghouse in 1847 on land donated by Elias and Mariah Roberts. Located in the center of the Roberts neighborhood, the meetinghouse served as the center of the community's educational, social, and religious life. After briefly aligning with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the congregation joined the Wesleyan Methodist Connection in the late 1840s. The main portion of the present chapel was constructed in 1858. Roberts Settlement's population peaked in the late 1800s at nearly 400 individuals; however, by 1900 the neighborhood began to decline. Fewer than six families remained by the mid-1920s. As its membership declined, the congregation withdrew its affiliation with the Wesleyan Methodist Church and became a non-denominational congregation. Roberts Settlement no longer exists as a self-contained community. The chapel and its adjacent cemetery are among the few significant structures that remain. Friends and the descendants of the families who once lived in the settlement have gathered at the chapel for annual reunions since 1925. The community also retains its family association to preserve the neighborhood's heritage. There is now a walk-through exhibit with plaques chronicling two centuries of the settlement history. Roberts Chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Roberts Chapel listed on the National Register?
Roberts Chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 24, 1996.
What type of historic resource is Roberts Chapel?
Roberts Chapel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Roberts Chapel?
The period of significance for Roberts Chapel is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Roberts Chapel?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Roberts Chapel will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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