AME ZION CHURCH CIRCA 1848 MONTROSE, PENNSYLVANIA
HISTORY
By 1840 the
black population of Montrose had reached 48 and a group of black residents
organized an official congregation by 1844. The assemblage met in a
small building erected on Spruce Street. On December
17, 1847, David Post deeded a lot on Berry Street to Charles Hammond
containing about 3280 square feet.
The AME Zion Church and its congregants in the 1940's
Charles Hammond was a former slave who had escaped from Maryland in 1842 via the Underground Railroad with local help from the Post families. This property became the site for the A.M.E. Zion Church built in 1859.
The Reverend Jermaine Loguen, known as "The Underground Railroad King of New York State," himself a former slave, pastored the Berry Street Church from 1861 to 1864 in conjunction with the Trinity A.M.E. Zion Church in Binghamton, New York. His personal friendships with all the nationally known Underground Railroad personalities such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown, to name a few, lend credence to the idea that these people, too, may have passed through Susquehanna County.
CURRENT STATUS
The little church closed its doors permanently in 1975, becoming
abandoned by the larger conference. CASS acquired a lease on the
property in the late 1990's with hopes of restoring it for use as a
worship center, a meeting place and a museum. Current status
includes:
Processing narratives to
acquire status on the National Register of Historic Places.
Refurbishing the basement
for office space and meeting room
Seeking grant monies to restore the sanctuary and to preserve the integrity of the structure
