Ebenezer AME Church

Ebenezer A.M.E. Church is part of the African Methodist Episcopal congregation, the oldest independent black institution in the country. The origins of the A.M.E. church date to the late 18th century, when blacks withdrew from the parent Methodist Church in protest against racially segregated seating and lack of representation in church hierarchy. In 1816, the A.M.E. church was formally organized in Philadelphia. Ebenezer A.M.E. is Baltimore's oldest standing church built by a black organization. It stands on the site of an earlier church building erected in 1848 by the same congregation, which was first organized in 1836. Several clergymen of national importance served the church, including Bishop Daniel A. Payne, who founded Wilberforce University, the oldest black university in the country. The site was purchased in 1839 by four freedmen of the congregation. In 1848, the congregation was incorporated, the building leveled, and a new structure erected. The present building dates from 1865. In 1893, the exterior was radically altered from English Gothic Revival style to vernacular Romanesque Revival. Although the architect is unknown, the builder was B.F. Bennett. The church building is an excellent example of ecclesiastical architecture popular in the late 19th century. A meeting hall was located at ground level, and on the floor above was the worship hall where members congregated for services.

Baltimore, Maryland · United States