The congregation began in 1842 with enslaved people who worshipped in their masters' Methodist church before being required to move to a small house provided for them. Their perseverance and faith sustained them through adversity and three other temporary places of worship. This site was purchased in 1860, about the time the congregation voted to transfer from the Methodist charge to the A.M.E. Zion connection. A wooden shed and parsonage were first built here, and in that shed the first ordination in Alabama of a Negro minister by a Negro bishop was held. The present structure was begun in 1867 by Rev. E.D. Taylor and was remodeled in 1896.