Sycamore Hill Missionary Baptist Church grew from an African American congregation founded in the winter of 1860, when 22 members first met at the home of Sister Ruth Armond on North Greene Street. In 1865, after the Civil War and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the founding members publicly established a physical home for the church, which was known as the African Baptist Church until the 1880's before taking the name Sycamore Hill Missionary Baptist Church because of sycamore trees on the property. Standing at the corner of First and Greene Streets in Greenville's downtown African American community, in the area between the Tar River and 4th Street to the south including the Town Common and from Greene Street to Reade Street east, it became the community's most significant institution and served as the center of religious, social, political, and economic activity for more than 100 years. The congregation later relocated twice, and the current church stands at 1001 Hooker Road in Greenville.