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