Allen Chapel AME Church Fort Worth

by Joan Carroll

Title

Allen Chapel AME Church Fort Worth

Artist

Joan Carroll

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photograph

Description

I've been driving around Fort Worth TX checking out some of the buildings that are on Historic Fort Worth's Most Endangered list. This building, the Allen Chapel AME Church, was on the list. I was there on a Sunday morning soon after services were completed and a few of the church members were kind enough to talk with me! This church sits on the edge of downtown Fort Worth, very much unnoticed. The Tudor Gothic Revival building was designed by noted African-American architect William Sidney Pittman, son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. When the church was completed in 1914, it sat 1,350 people. It was named after Richard Allen, a former slave and African-American minister who was the first bishop of the African-American Methodist Episcopal Church. Built at a cost of $20,000 it is the oldest and largest African Methodist Episcopal church in Fort Worth. The church established the first private schools for African-Americans. A pipe organ was installed in 1923. In 2011 lightning hit the church's bell tower causing extensive damage. The struggle now is not only to maintain the church but also to make repairs to the bell tower. The church was added to the National Register in October 18, 1984.

FEATURED PHOTO, Historical Buildings of the World group, 7/9/14

FEATURED PHOTO, World Religious Architecture group, 7/9/14

Uploaded

June 12th, 2014

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