Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church

About this property

Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church is an historic African Methodist Episcopal Church at 551 Warren Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The current church building (originally All Souls Unitarian Church) was built in 1888 by J. Williams Beal and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In November 1833, the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by Reverend Noah Caldwell on Belknap Street (now Joy Street) on Beacon Hill. By November 1838, at the time of only 35 members, nine of them petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to grant them papers to incorporate the Church as the First African Methodist Episcopal Bethel Society of Boston. On January 28, 1839, the State Legislature granted them a charter and recognized them as the First A.M.E. Society Church. By 1840 they had 45 members. In July 1843 they received their first permanent pastor, Reverend Henry J. Johnson and in May 1844, the Church purchased a building on Anderson Street, Beacon Hill, where it stayed until 1876. During pre-Civil War, the congregation's service took place here and was home to many abolitionist meetings where William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Philips, Frederick Douglass, and others spoke in order to raise money for the anti-slavery cause. Because of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the increasing number of Irish immigrants getting jobs over blacks in the community, church membership decreased and because of the purchase of a new location, their bills were out of control. By the end of the Civil War and with help from the Conference, the Church was able to pay off their debts and mortgage. With the end of the Civil War and into the 1870s, the Boston's black population almost doubled, which raised membership of the A.M.E. society. It became the largest black church in Boston. In 1876, because more space was needed to accommodate all the new members, the Church purchased the Charles Street Meeting House, previously owned by the white Third Baptist Church and then the Charles Street Baptist Church, at Mr. Vernon and Charles Street. The purchase of a new building, however, left the A.M.E society in debt over $32,000 and with hardly any members. At the Annual Conference held in New Haven, CT in 1880, the Bishop decided to send Rev. John T. Jennifer from the Arkansas Conference to Charles Street. Rev. Jennifer was fiery and an extraordinary orator who raised church membership from 260 in 1881 to 375 and in 1886 raised $48,000 for all purposes. He preached on political topics such as civil rights and often attacked the evils of alcohol. He left in 1886 leaving only $9,000 to be paid. In 1890, the Charles Street Church had a membership of over 500.

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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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