Soon after the Civil War, an interracial Methodist organization formed in 1866 and worshiped under a bush arbor near the railroad in South Sumter. After a few years, members grew discontented with that organization and sought to form the newly introduced African Methodist Episcopal Church. For a time they held services in the Sumter County Courthouse, then moved to a rented workshop building on South Sumter Street. In 1869, $300.00 was raised to buy the land where the present church stands. On a foundation of faith, love, and charity, members built their first wooden church there, named it Mount Pisgah AME Church, and dedicated it in 1870. As membership rapidly outgrew that building, a larger and stronger church was built on the same site in 1900, and in later years it was brick veneered and renovated twice.