First African Methodist Episcopal Church | |
Location | 521 North Hull Street, Athens, Athens–Clarke County, Georgia, U.S. |
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Coordinates | 33°57′38″N 83°22′45″W / 33.960626°N 83.379217°W |
Built | 1916 |
Architect | Louis H. Persley |
NRHP reference No. | 80000991 |
Added to NRHP | March 10, 1980[1] |
The First African Methodist Episcopal Church (First AME Church), formerly known as Pierce’s Chapel,[2] is an AME church established in 1866 by Rev. Henry McNeal Turner, and located at 521 North Hull Street in Athens, Georgia.[3][2]
It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since March 10, 1980.[1][4]
First African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first African American church in Athens.[2][3] In 1881, the congregation purchased the lot on N. Hull Street, the present church location.[2] Louis H. Persley, the first African American registered architect in Georgia, designed the building in 1916.[2] While the congregation's church building was being constructed in 1916 services were held at Union Hall in what is now the Morton Theatre.[5]
The original church's basement of the church was used as a school for children and adults. It was named Pierce's Chapel in honor of Reverend Lovick Pierce, a white minister who helped organize the congregation in a building on the Oconee River.[6] The educational center was opened in 1964, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Clayton Duke Wilkerson.[3]
The church had a parsonage located at 147 Strong Street, built in 1921 and demolished as part of an urban renewal project in the 1960s.[7]
In 2017, the church received a new pastor, B.A. Hart.[8]