Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church

Last updated
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
Green Memorial A M E Zion Church, Portland ME.jpg
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
USA Maine location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location46 Sheridan St., Portland, Maine
Coordinates 43°39′50″N70°14′58″W / 43.66389°N 70.24944°W / 43.66389; -70.24944
Arealess than one acre
Built1914
NRHP reference No. 73000115 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 17, 1973

The Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Churchis a historic church at 46 Sheridan Street in Portland, Maine. Built in 1914, it is home to Maine's oldest African-American congregation; it is named for Moses Green, an escaped slave. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. [1]

Contents

Description

The Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is located in Portland's eastern Munjoy Hill neighborhood, at the corner of Sheridan and Monument Streets. It is a 2+12-story masonry structure, built out of concrete blocks and finished with a rough textured exterior. The building corners are partially quoined with smooth blocks. First-floor windows are rectangular sash, while second-floor windows have Gothic lancet arches, and are stained glass. The entrance is near the street corner, sheltered by an open gable-roofed wood frame vestibule; a short wood-frame tower rises through the roof above. [2]

History

Portland's Abyssinian Society was founded in 1828, and originally met in the Abyssinian Meeting House, one of the nation's oldest surviving African-American churches. A separate African-American congregation, the Fourth Abyssinian, was split off from the Second Parish Church in 1835 and merged into the Abyssinian in 1842. This church was built for that congregation in 1914, and was described in contemporary reports as "one of the most pretentious churches for a Black congregation in New England". [2]

Choir

The congregation is noted for its choir. In 1998, the choir and the Williams Temple Church of God in Christ choir formed the Maine Gospel Choir and performed The Movement, Revisited, a musical about the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, at Bates College. [3] In 2015, the choir performed at a memorial, multi-faith service held at Merrill Auditorium in Portland to honor those lost in the Charleston Church Shooting, a racially motivated mass shooting at a historically Black church. Green Memorial pastor Kenneth Lewis organized the memorial. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bialystoker Synagogue</span> Synagogue in Manhattan, New York

The Bialystoker Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue at 7–11 Bialystoker Place, also known as Willett Street, between Grand and Broome Streets in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building was constructed in 1826 as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church; the synagogue purchased the building in 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abyssinian Meeting House</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

The Abyssinian Meeting House is a historic church building at 73–75 Newbury Street, in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Built 1828-1831 by free African-Americans, it is Maine's oldest African-American church building, and the third oldest in the nation. Throughout the years, the Abyssinian was a place for worship and revivals, abolition and temperance meetings, speakers and concerts, the Female Benevolent Society, the Portland Union Anti-Slavery Society and negro conventions, and the black school in Portland from the mid-1840s through the mid-1850s. The building is the only Underground Railroad site in Maine recognized by the National Park Service. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Parsonage</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Parsonage is an historic church and parsonage at 6 Sever Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The congregation, founded in 1866, is one of a small number of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregations in eastern Massachusetts, and is an enduring component of the small African-American community in Plymouth. Its church, built about 1840 as a commercial building and consecrated in 1870, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic church on Woodside Avenue in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is a member of the National African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church denomination, which is historically African American and began in the United States. The history of the Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in Amherst, Massachusetts is an important part of the broader context of African American history. The A.M.E. Zion denomination was created in conjunction with growing African American identities. Locally, the Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is one of the few physical structures that speaks to the rich African American history and heritage in the town of Amherst and surrounding areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hood A.M.E. Zion Church</span> Church in Oyster Bay, United States

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Parish Church (Portland, Maine)</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

First Parish Church is an historic church at 425 Congress Street in Portland, Maine. Built in 1825 for a congregation established in 1674, it is the oldest church building in the city, and one of its finest examples of Federal period architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The congregation is Unitarian Universalist; its pastor is Reverend Norman Allen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Yarmouth and Freeport Baptist Meetinghouse</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

The North Yarmouth and Freeport Baptist Meetinghouse, also known as the Old Baptist Meeting House, is an historic church on Hillside Street in Yarmouth, Maine. Built in 1796 and twice altered in the 19th century, it is believed to be the oldest surviving church built for a Baptist congregation in the state of Maine. It is now owned by the town and maintained by a local non-profit organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Paul's Church and Rectory</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

St. Paul's Church and Rectory is an historic Episcopal church at 279 Congress Street in Portland, Maine. Built in 1868 for a newly established congregation, it is a fine local example of Gothic Revival architecture, designed by English architect George Browne Pelham. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The present pastor is Rev. Samuel L. Logan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Baptist Church (Waterville, Maine)</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

The First Baptist Church is a historic church at 1 Park Street in Waterville, Maine. Built in 1826, it is the city's oldest standing public building. It was renovated in 1875 to a design by Francis H. Fassett. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the New Jerusalem (Fryeburg, Maine)</span> Historic church in Maine, United States

The Church of the New Jerusalem, now known as The Fryeburg New Church, is a congregation of The New Church (Swedenborgianism) at 12 Oxford Street in Fryeburg, Maine. The historic church building is a Stick style structure designed by Portland architect, Charles H. Kimball, and built in 1878. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses</span> United States historic place

The Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses are historic residences in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The simple, clapboard-covered dwellings were built in 1848 in what became known as Little Liberia, a neighborhood settled by free blacks starting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. As the last surviving houses of this neighborhood on their original foundations, these were added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 22, 1999. The houses are the oldest remaining houses in Connecticut built by free blacks, before the state completed its gradual abolition of slavery in 1848. The homes and nearby Walter's Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church are also listed sites on the Connecticut Freedom Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church</span> Historic church in North Carolina, United States

Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church, originally known as East Fourth Street Baptist Church, is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion church located at 1435 E. Fourth Street in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It was built in 1924, and is a front-gabled brick church with two prominent domed towers and flanking one-story hipped-roof wings in the Classical Revival style. The front facade features a prominent pedimented porch supported by stuccoed Doric order columns and Ionic order pilasters. The interior is based on the Akron Plan. The building was acquired by an African-American congregation split from the Goler Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1942. The congregation changed their name to Goler Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center Street A.M.E. Zion Church</span> Historic church in North Carolina, United States

Center Street A.M.E. Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion church located on S. Center Street in Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina. It was built in 1903, and is a one-story, three bay by seven bay, Late Gothic Revival style brick building. It has a steep gable roof sheathed in pressed tin and features two corner entrance towers of unequal height and a large, pointed arch stained glass window. The church also goes by the name Mount Pleasant AME Zion Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackney Chapel AME Zion Church</span> Historic building in Loudon County, Tennessee

Hackney Chapel AME Zion Church, also known as Unitia AME Zion Church, is a historic African-American church in rural Loudon County, Tennessee. The adjacent cemetery has about 100 marked graves and up to 200 unmarked graves. The church and cemetery were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church</span>

The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as "Mother Zion", located at 140–148 West 137th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest African-American church in New York City, and the "mother church" of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethel A.M.E. Church (Indianapolis, Indiana)</span> Historic church in Indiana, United States

The Bethel A.M.E. Church, known in its early years as Indianapolis Station or the Vermont Street Church, is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. Organized in 1836, it is the city's oldest African-American congregation. The three-story church on West Vermont Street dates to 1869 and was added to the National Register in 1991. The surrounding neighborhood, once the heart of downtown Indianapolis's African American community, significantly changed with post-World War II urban development that included new hotels, apartments, office space, museums, and the Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis campus. In 2016 the congregation sold their deteriorating church, which will be used in a future commercial development. The congregation built a new worship center at 6417 Zionsville Road in Pike Township, Marion County, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

The Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic church at 9 Elm Court in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was the first African American church in Berkshire County, and it was a place where noted Great Barrington native W.E.B. Du Bois is known to have attended services. The Shingle style church was completed in 1887, and continues to serve as a center of African American worship in southern Berkshire County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church</span> Historic church in South Carolina, United States

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, often referred to as Mother Emanuel, is a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1817, Emanuel AME is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the Southern United States. This, the first independent black denomination in the United States, was founded in 1816 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Zion A.M.E. Church (Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania)</span> United States historic place

Mount Zion A.M.E. Church is a historic African American church in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Built in 1880 and expanded in 1906, Mount Zion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 27, 2015. It was an important community gathering place for African Americans battling racial segregation of local schools in the 1930s.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  3. "Jazz and gospel groups combine to perform celebration of the Civil Rights movement". News. 1998-11-03. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  4. Gallagher, Noel (2015-06-22). "Hundreds turn out in Portland to decry racism, honor victims of Charleston shootings". Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Retrieved 2023-11-26.