The Abyssinian Baptist Church movING to Harlem
One hundred year ago today … The Abyssinian Baptist Church, presided over by Adam Clayton Powell, was moving–as reported by the New York Age. Its new West 138th Street location is home to this day of this hugely influential African American congregation.
New York Age, 10 April, 1920, p. 1. Schomburg Center.
The Abyssinian Baptist Church was founded in 1808 as an alternative to the segregated churches of NYC. Housed in several locales in its first century, by 1920 it was found at 242 West 40th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues.
Ca. 1902-1922. Courtesy the Official Website of the Abyssinian Baptist Church.
The Age (which we first specifically featured on our January 3 post, linked here, and have made much use of since) phrased its headline—“Another Midtown Church to Move to Harlem …”—to reflect a trend, as Harlem was in the early throes of a developmental and population transformation that generated conditions for the Harlem Renaissance. The paper reported that the Church planned to move by 1921, but construction on its new digs at 132 West 138th Street would take through 1923. Here is the site, with construction just underway, in 1922:
West 138 St., looking southeast, 1922. Miller-Read Company. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York.
In its new location, the Church would grow to be the largest Protestant congregation in the world.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, APRIL 10, 2020.
Tags: Abyssinian Baptist Church, Adam Clayton Powell, New York Age, Harlem, African American history, religion, Baptism, churches