Beginning as a congregation in 1872 inside a private home, Mount Zion Baptist Church's first building in Athens stood on Lancaster Street in 1876. Between 1905 and 1909, a thriving community of free-born and formerly enslaved Black Americans built Mount Zion Baptist Church as a place of spiritual solace and social connection. It remained active as a church until the early 2000s. Over the course of its rich history, the church supported the cultural and social contributions of Black Americans in the Ohio River Valley and catapulted one of its choirs, the Gospel Voices of Faith, to national fame. Mount Zion Baptist Church is being restored and preserved as a vibrant community asset. The Black Cultural Center will offer educational, cultural and creative programming to support the Athens community, the Ohio River Valley and other marginalized peoples of southeast Ohio.