Bethel United Methodist Church | |
![]() This is Old Bethel United Methodist Church, built about 1797-1798, and moved to Calhoun Street in 1880. | |
Location | 222 Calhoun St., Charleston, South Carolina |
---|---|
Coordinates | 32°47′4″N79°56′31″W / 32.78444°N 79.94194°W Coordinates: 32°47′4″N79°56′31″W / 32.78444°N 79.94194°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | c. 1797-1798 |
Architectural style | meetinghouse plan; portico added in 1880s |
NRHP reference No. | 75001693 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 21, 1975 |
Old Bethel United Methodist Church is located at 222 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina. It is the oldest Methodist church still standing in the city. [2] [3]
Originally built about 1797/1798 for the Bethel Methodist congregation, after 1854 this structure was moved from its first place on the site and reserved for its black members. The white members took control of the new church completed that year on the site. In 1882 officials of Bethel Methodist gave this wooden church building to the black church members; they moved it across to the north side of Calhoun Street (earlier known as Boundary Street) in April 1882. [4]
Both churches were listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [1]
This building was originally built at 55 Pitt St. at the corner of Calhoun Street (then called Boundary Street) in 1797-1798 for the Bethel Methodist Church, a white-dominated congregation. It was a plan meeting house with a simple rectangular plan. Black members were restricted to sitting in the galleries, although the Methodists accepted both free and enslaved blacks as members and licensed some as preachers. They were sometimes allowed to have separate worship services at times alternate to the white congregation. [2]
In 1818 some blacks withdrew from the congregation, affiliating with Rev. Morris Brown and the Hampstead Church (later known as Emanuel AME Church), established about that time in Charleston after a dispute with whites at Bethel. It was built on the north side of Calhoun Street. They had protested a structure being placed on the black burial ground at the Bethel Methodist plot. Emanuel AME Church was suppressed in 1822 following the uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, a leader in that church, after he and others were arrested, convicted, and executions. Brown was imprisoned for about a year, although he was never convicted of a crime.
In 1834 some blacks at Bethel Methodist protested being limited to sitting in the galleries. When nine members were expelled, 165 left the church in protest. [2] A nineteenth-century minister and church historian described these events as "the heaviest blow Methodism ever received in Charleston." [5]
With growth, the congregation of Bethel Methodist commissioned a new Greek Revival building, which was completed in 1854. Before that construction, they moved this older wooden building to the back of their lot. It was reserved for use by black members who remained affiliated with this church. The new church was used exclusively by whites. [2]
After the Civil War, this black congregation was led for a period by Henry Cardozo, a pastor who later became a politician. One of his brothers was Francis Lewis Cardozo, who was elected as Secretary of State of South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. Henry Cardozo also served in political office, first as County Auditor of Charleston County. Later he was elected as a Republican state senator from Kershaw County, South Carolina, serving 1870 to 1874. [2]
Following the Reconstruction era, in April 1882 the white congregation formally transferred this wooden building to the black congregation. They moved it across the corner to Calhoun Street, giving it a new address, and renamed it as Old Bethel Methodist Church. [2] Because of prohibitions against blacks having churches south of what was then called Boundary Street, they placed it on the north side of Calhoun Street. [6]
After the structure was relocated, the congregation had a portico added, supported by four fluted columns. The columns have modified Corinthian-type capitals. The galleried interior is plainly finished.
Following the 1968 unification of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren at a national meeting in Dallas, Texas, [7] this church was renamed as Old Bethel United Methodist Church. The church was renovated in the 1970s. In the 21st century it continues to be us by a congregation of about 200 persons. [2]
Both this building and the 1854 Bethel Methodist Church were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African-American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is the first independent Protestant denomination to be founded by black people, though it welcomes and has members of all ethnicities.
The Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church and congregation at 419 South 6th Street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The congregation, founded in 1794, is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal congregation in the nation. Its present church, completed in 1890, is the oldest church property in the United States to be continuously owned by African Americans. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
The French Quarter is a historic district and a section of downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ole Peter Petersen was a Norwegian-American clergyman. He is credited as the founder of Methodism in Norway and co-founder of Norwegian and Danish Methodism in the United States.
St. George's United Methodist Church, located at the corner of 4th and New Streets, in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest Methodist church in continuous use in the United States, beginning in 1769. The congregation was founded in 1767, meeting initially in a sail loft on Dock Street, and in 1769 it purchased the shell of a building which had been erected in 1763 by a German Reformed congregation. At this time, Methodists had not yet broken away from the Anglican Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church was not founded until 1784.
Old Stone Church is a church building built in 1802. When it was constructed, it was in the Pendleton District, South Carolina. When Pendleton District was divided in 1826, the church was in Pickens District. When Pickens District was split in 1868, it was in Oconee County, South Carolina. In 1968, this section of Oconee County was annexed back to Pickens County. The church is about midway between the centers of Pendleton and Clemson. It is now in the city limits of Clemson.
Edward Brickell White, also known as E. B. White, was an architect in the United States. He was known for his Gothic Revival architecture and his use of Roman and Greek designs.
Bethel Methodist Church or Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church or Old Bethel Methodist Church may refer to:
Bethel Methodist Church is a congregation and the building located at 57 Pitt St. The congregation organized in the late eighteenth century and originally built a smaller wooden church on the site. It served both white and black Methodists.
The First Baptist Church is an historic American Baptist Churches USA congregation, established in 1665. It is one of the oldest Baptist churches in the United States. It first met secretly in members homes, and the doors of the first church were nailed shut by a decree from the Puritans in March 1680. The church was forced to move to Noddle's Island. The church was forced to be disguised as a tavern and members traveled by water to worship. Rev. Dr. Stillman led the church in the North End for over 40 years, from 1764 to 1807. The church moved to Beacon Hill in 1854, where it was the tallest steeple in the city. After a slow demise under Rev. Dr. Rollin Heber Neale, the church briefly joined with the Shawmut Ave. Church, and the Warren Avenue Tabernacle, and merged and bought the current church in 1881, for $100,000.00. Since 1882 it has been located at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Clarendon Street in the Back Bay. The interior is currently a pending Boston Landmark through the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia was built in 1801 and is a significant historical building for its architecture, religious history, and African American heritage. The congregation initially had a wood structure built and used by the Saint John Methodist Church. Since 1944, this building has been home to the Springfield Baptist congregation.
Wentworth Methodist Episcopal Church, South and Cemetery, also known as Wentworth United Methodist Church, is a historic Methodist church located at Wentworth, Rockingham County, North Carolina.
Hayti, also called Hayti District, is the historic African-American community that is now part of the city of Durham, North Carolina. It was founded as an independent black community shortly after the American Civil War on the southern edge of Durham by freedmen coming to work in tobacco warehouses and related jobs in the city. By the early decades of the 20th century, African Americans owned and operated more than 200 businesses, which were located along Fayetteville, Pettigrew, and Pine Streets, the boundaries of Hayti.
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.
Morris Brown was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and its second presiding bishop. He founded Emanuel AME Church in his native Charleston, South Carolina. It was implicated in the slave uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, also of this church, and after that was suppressed, Brown was imprisoned for nearly a year. He was never convicted of a crime.
Henry Cardozo was a carpenter, shipbuilder, county auditor, and state senator in South Carolina.