Lowell Heights Olivet REDRAFT NRform revised with plans

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Lowell Heights-Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church St. Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 17 nearby at 114 N. Ironwood Drive on the city's far east side. This occurred on April 21, 1968 and the new name of Evangel Heights United Methodist was adopted. ETHNIC HERITAGE The building on Notre Dame Avenue was sold to the Olivet African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) congregation who held dedication rites on December 7, 1969. Reverend Roderick Johnson was the pastor during the move from downtown South Bend to the Notre Dame Avenue building. The move was considered necessary for the city’s planned downtown renewal program. That program was never fully implemented to cause the removal of the congregation’s old building on Monroe Street. The church’s membership was 326 when it changed locations to the former Lowell Heights building, and had always “directed its programs of activities toward the religious and social improvement of local black residents.”3 The African Methodist Episcopal denomination traces its history to 1787 when its founder, Richard Allen, was excluded from a white congregation in Philadelphia of the same denomination. During the late 1860s, Bishop William Paul Quinn of the A.M.E. denomination visited Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan and encouraged the establishment of several churches, including what would become the Olivet congregation. A total of 20 congregations were established during that time of missionary outreach including those located in Elkhart, Gary, Michigan City, LaPorte, Kokomo, Fort Wayne, Niles, Cassopolis, and Three Rivers. The Olivet A. M. E. congregation first formed in 1870. It was the first, and for many years the only, African-American congregation in South Bend/St. Joseph County. It was the center for social, political, religious, and civic life for the city’s African American population.4 Some of its original nine members were part of the Huggart settlement, the first settlement of free African- Americans in St. Joseph County, while others were some of the city's earliest residents and first burials in the city cemetery. The first trustees were Mr. and Mrs. Farrow Powell, Mr. and Mrs. James Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Bridgeman, Mr. J.B. Lott, Mr. James Hurst, and Mr. John Powell. The first pastor was Revered Bundy. The congregation was the only church for African- Americans for many years and was simply known as "the colored church" on the city's near southwest side. Once other African American churches formed, the first church became known as Olivet Chapel. The trustees purchased property at 310 West Monroe Street for the construction of a church building in 1872. The cornerstone was laid on August 7 of that year.5 The Olivet congregation replaced the 1872 building with a new building in 1917, which is extant at the Monroe Street site. Olivet A.M.E. has been at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in South Bend. The local branch of the NAACP met in the congregation’s home in the early 20th century. Hazel Hunter, a steward of the church, had worked for the national NAACP before locating in South Bend and joining the Olivet congregation. In 1923, attorney Charles Wills, a member of the church, was 3 Pontius, Gertrude 5 Dec 1969 South Bend Tribune 4 Bryant, John Charles Official Olivet A.M.E. Church History 1870-2020 5 Bryant, John Charles Official Olivet A.M.E. Church History 1870-2020