Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church ~ CRHC Local History Encyclopedia

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Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church Established in 1986, Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church is the caretaker of the former Olivet A.M.E. church building located adjacent to Four Winds Field in downtown South Bend. Zion Hill was founded by the Reverend Robert Howard Derrickson. Born in Matoon, Illinois, in 1919, Reverend Derrickson earned a degree in theology at Chicago's Moody Bible Institute. In 1952, he moved to the South Bend area. He served first as the pastor of Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church for thirteen years, and also served as the President of the Consolidated Negro Contractors group. During Zion Hill's first eight years, they rented the sanctuary at 310 West Monroe Street, the second of two buildings on that site constructed by members of Olivet A.M.E., the city's oldest African American congregation. Olivet left the building in 1969, sparked by their congregation outgrowing the space and also by a belief that downtown redevelopment in the wake of Studebaker's closure would force their hand. After Olivet moved to their current sanctuary on the east side, the downtown building, built in 1917, underwent a series of new uses. In 1975 it served as a studio for the Southold Dance Theater, and in 1981 it reverted to use as a sanctuary by the Greater Christian Tabernacle, part of the United Pentecostal Church. As Greater Christian Tabernacle was using the building, city officials began exploring the surrounding area to become a downtown baseball attraction, an idea that would become Covaleski Stadium and, today, Four Winds Field. When Studebaker shut down two decades earlier, the surrounding area struggled without the thousands of daily workers feeding into the now derelict factory buildings. The ballpark was an attempt at revitalization, one that many other cities across the U.S. have tried. The fact that several nearby buildings were still in use, and potentially in the way of home run hits, was considered. Ray Gard, a commentator writing in the South Bend Tribune, wrote playfully about the ballpark plans, stating, “A home run ball, thumping down the main church aisle on a Sunday morning, would be disconcerting.” Perhaps more concerning to city leaders was the historic nature of the building. In 1985, when city leaders unveiled a list of twenty-three nearby sites for purchase and possible demolition, the former Olivet church building was not on the list. The omission came as a surprise to Greater Christian Tabernacle’s pastor, Rev. Michael Friend, who apparently had struck, but not signed a deal to sell the building one day before the Mayor announced the downtown ballpark plans. According to Reverend Friend, once news of the ballpark plans was made public, “Boom. The deal was off. … Who wants to hold services within twenty feet of a ball game?” Rev. Friend surprised city leaders when he asked that the church be included on the purchase list. The previous twenty-three properties, including two businesses, an insurance agency, seven private homes, and three vacant homes, had a combined value of $338,616. The City agreed to add the former Olivet to the list, offering Greater Christian Tabernacle $130,000 for the property. While the City was uncertain what exactly it would be used for, some considered converting it into a restaurant. By November 1986, as machines continued the destruction of the surrounding homes and businesses and clawed towards construction of a new baseball diamond, the new Zion Hill