Pumphrey, in the Patapsco Park area, is a historic African American enclave whose roots reach back well before the American Civil War. Seventy-five African Americans founded the community in 1832 on lands acquired by Quaker Walter Pumphrey in 1708, and for many years it remained a largely Black, homogeneous community that took pride in businesses and organizations that flourished to meet residents' needs. Belle Grove Road became a focal point for businesses and houses of worship, while proximity to Baltimore gave residents a sense of metropolitan flair despite the area's enduring farmlands and rural culture. One of the earliest churches began in 1852 as the Holly Run Mission, later became St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church, and today is known as St. John United Methodist Church; nearby Community Baptist Church was established in 1929. Both churches fostered spiritual growth, family fellowship, leadership development, and intellectual encouragement by reinforcing the value of education, and both still stand after many renovations and rebuilding. Community advocacy also came through the Tax Payers' Improvement Association, established in 1923, and the Women's Progressive League, founded in 1930, which continue to promote political awareness, environmental integrity, community health, and the economic stability of local businesses. In the 1930s, the Lloyd Keaser Community Center was established to honor a cherished resident, Lloyd Keaser, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who became the first African American to win a gold medal in wrestling's world championship in 1973 and later won a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The center occupies the former Pumphrey Elementary School, built in 1939 on fourteen acres donated by African American farmer Charles Hines for the education of African American children in Pumphrey and nearby Cedar Hill, Elkridge, and Furnace Branch. Before 1939, Pumphrey's children attended a Rosenwald School on Berlin Avenue, one of the schools built in Anne Arundel County between 1921 and 1932 with support from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, local residents, and the county school system.