AME Zion Church (formerly People’s AME Zion)
711 East Fayette Street
Syracuse, NY
Contact: Rev. Daren Jaime <dcjaime23@hotmail.com>
(315) 472-1198
http://www.thepeoplesamez.org/
Sunday, May 22, 2016: 2:00 – 4:00 PM
The church is undergoing substantial renovations, but will be available to visitors on Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., for a construction ground breaking. There will be music and outdoor presentations honoring the past and sharing future plans for the former church.
Peoples A.M.E. Zion is the oldest African-American congregation in Syracuse and the central New York region. Established in 1841, the congregation purchased their first church building on South Crouse Street in 1848. In 1863 they replaced this church with a new, larger building, but by 1910 they had outgrown their facility once again, and planned a move to a new facility at 711 East Fayette Street, the site of this May’s groundbreaking and commemoration. By 1975, the congregation moved again, to its fourth and present location on South Salina Street. The 1910 church eventually fell into disrepair.
Designed by prominent Syracuse architect Charles Colton, the 1910 design and construction of the former People’s AME Zion church building at 711 East Fayette melds traditional late nineteenth century Romanesque and Gothic revival styles with exposed turn of the century structural components. The squat building with corner tower was a popular church design of the period. The design also employed contemporary features such as of white Litholite (an artificial cast stone product) instead of natural stone, sand lime brick instead of hard fired brick, open structural steel trusses instead of traditional wooden sanctuary roof construction, and twentieth century leaded glass windows. Windows in the church are leaded colored art glass panels representative of early twentieth century mass-produced catalog design motifs.
It is the oldest African American church structure still standing in the city of Syracuse. Reflecting its history as an anchor of Syracuse’s African American community and a center of civil rights activism, the church at 711 E. Fayette Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, this church took a leadership role in movements for African American rights that linked it to national struggles for freedom. It promoted African American rights throughout its history, beginning in the nineteenth century with support for abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, voting rights for African Americans, and the Civil War. In the twentieth century it supported equal employment, education, political power, and civil rights for all through its works with the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality. Under Rev. Emory Proctor, it became a center of civil rights activism in the 1960s.
711 East Fayette Street
Syracuse, NY
Contact: Rev. Daren Jaime <dcjaime23@hotmail.com>
(315) 472-1198
http://www.thepeoplesamez.org/
Sunday, May 22, 2016: 2:00 – 4:00 PM
The church is undergoing substantial renovations, but will be available to visitors on Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., for a construction ground breaking. There will be music and outdoor presentations honoring the past and sharing future plans for the former church.
Peoples A.M.E. Zion is the oldest African-American congregation in Syracuse and the central New York region. Established in 1841, the congregation purchased their first church building on South Crouse Street in 1848. In 1863 they replaced this church with a new, larger building, but by 1910 they had outgrown their facility once again, and planned a move to a new facility at 711 East Fayette Street, the site of this May’s groundbreaking and commemoration. By 1975, the congregation moved again, to its fourth and present location on South Salina Street. The 1910 church eventually fell into disrepair.
Designed by prominent Syracuse architect Charles Colton, the 1910 design and construction of the former People’s AME Zion church building at 711 East Fayette melds traditional late nineteenth century Romanesque and Gothic revival styles with exposed turn of the century structural components. The squat building with corner tower was a popular church design of the period. The design also employed contemporary features such as of white Litholite (an artificial cast stone product) instead of natural stone, sand lime brick instead of hard fired brick, open structural steel trusses instead of traditional wooden sanctuary roof construction, and twentieth century leaded glass windows. Windows in the church are leaded colored art glass panels representative of early twentieth century mass-produced catalog design motifs.
It is the oldest African American church structure still standing in the city of Syracuse. Reflecting its history as an anchor of Syracuse’s African American community and a center of civil rights activism, the church at 711 E. Fayette Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, this church took a leadership role in movements for African American rights that linked it to national struggles for freedom. It promoted African American rights throughout its history, beginning in the nineteenth century with support for abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, voting rights for African Americans, and the Civil War. In the twentieth century it supported equal employment, education, political power, and civil rights for all through its works with the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality. Under Rev. Emory Proctor, it became a center of civil rights activism in the 1960s.
