Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is located in Maine
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is located in the United States
Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
Location46 Sheridan St., Portland, Maine
Coordinates43°39′50″N 70°14′58″W / 43.66389°N 70.24944°W / 43.66389; -70.24944
Arealess than one acre
Built1914
NRHP reference No.73000115[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 17, 1973

The Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Churchis a historic church at 46 Sheridan Street in Portland, Maine. Built in 1914, it is home to Maine's oldest African-American congregation; it is named for Moses Green, an escaped slave. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[1]

Description

The Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is located in Portland's eastern Munjoy Hill neighborhood, at the corner of Sheridan and Monument Streets. It is a 2+1⁄2-story masonry structure, built out of concrete blocks and finished with a rough textured exterior. The building corners are partially quoined with smooth blocks. First-floor windows are rectangular sash, while second-floor windows have Gothic lancet arches, and are stained glass. The entrance is near the street corner, sheltered by an open gable-roofed wood frame vestibule; a short wood-frame tower rises through the roof above.[2]

History

Portland's Abyssinian Society was founded in 1828, and originally met in the Abyssinian Meeting House, one of the nation's oldest surviving African-American churches. A separate African-American congregation, the Fourth Abyssinian, was split off from the Second Parish Church in 1835 and merged into the Abyssinian in 1842. This church was built for that congregation in 1914, and was described in contemporary reports as "one of the most pretentious churches for a Black congregation in New England".[2]

Choir

The congregation is noted for its choir. In 1998, the choir and the Williams Temple Church of God in Christ choir formed the Maine Gospel Choir and performed The Movement, Revisited, a musical about the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, at Bates College.[3] In 2015, the choir performed at a memorial, multi-faith service held at Merrill Auditorium in Portland to honor those lost in the Charleston Church Shooting, a racially motivated mass shooting at a historically Black church. Green Memorial pastor Kenneth Lewis organized the memorial.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  3. ↑ "Jazz and gospel groups combine to perform celebration of the Civil Rights movement". News. 1998-11-03. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  4. ↑ Gallagher, Noel (2015-06-22). "Hundreds turn out in Portland to decry racism, honor victims of Charleston shootings". Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
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