Mt. Zion Baptist Church was founded in 1869 by 36 black members of nearby Black Creek Baptist Church who received letters of dismissal to form their own congregation. Its first minister, Rev. William Hart, served until his death in 1872, and he was succeeded by his son, Rev. Alfred Hart, who served from 1872 to 1879 after representing Darlington County in the S.C. House from 1870 to 1872. The church held its first services in a brush arbor on this site, which its trustees bought from James C. McCallman in 1872. After worshiping under a frame shelter for several years, the congregation built its first permanent sanctuary, a frame building, in 1890. Continued growth led to the construction of a second frame church in 1908, and the present brick sanctuary was dedicated in 1979.