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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZion Hill Missionary Baptist Church ~ CRHC Local History EncyclopediaZion 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 Missionary Baptist congregation held a dedication ceremony for Reverend Derrickson in the former Olivet A.M.E. sanctuary. He would continue serving his congregation as pastor for the next nineteen years. In 1994, after eight years paying a monthly lease to the City’s Redevelopment Commission for the building, Zion Hill leaders initiated a conversation to purchase it. The City set a price of $75,400. Zion Hill started at $1 but pointed out the over $20,000 monthly rent they had already paid plus nearly $50,000 they wished to invest in renovations. At the end of the year, the City and the Church settled on a $10,000 purchase price. Three years later, members of Zion Hill’s congregation celebrated full payment with a mortgage burning ceremony. Once again, after thirty years of massive nearby change and uncertainty about the sanctuary’s future, the 1917 Olivet building was fully owned and cared for by an African American congregation. Reverend Derrickson was 79 years old when he witnessed the congregation he built secured in its sanctuary. He had no intentions on leaving, stating then that he would continue, “as long as I've got health and strength.” Reverend Derrickson continued until his death in 2005 at the age of 86, capping a career of service to his congregation and to his family. Despite this loss, Zion Hill continued to engage the community. For example, in 2006, Zion Hill served as the headquarters and offices of a new, local chapter of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, led nationally by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. In 2017, in a sign of the warm relationship between Olivet, the oldest African American congregation, and Zion Hill as the caretakers of the sanctuary, Zion Hill hosted a 100th anniversary celebration for the building. Olivet’s pastor, the Reverend Rick Jackson, spoke at the celebration. This one location has now housed two long-serving African American congregations for over 150 years. Today, Zion Hill has been caring for the sanctuary for four decades, continuing their own service to the community and to the building’s longevity well into the twenty-first century. Additional resources: [None] Tags: Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Olivet A.M.E., Reverend Derrickson, Consolidated Negro Contractors Original author: George Garner Original editor: Aubren Kubicki Final edit approved: April 14, 2026 Additional edits: 20YY-MM-DD, NAME | Notes.