29.3 F
Indianapolis
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Historic Bethel AME Church sold for hotel project

More by this author

Despite efforts by church leaders to keep Indianapolis’ historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church open, the building has been sold to a developer and will become part of a new hotel.

The 180-year-old church, which is led by Rev. Louis Parham, has struggled with dwindling attendance and deteriorating facilities in the past few years.

“The infrastructure itself is definitely a challenge. It is aging not so gracefully, but we’re trying to restore that,” Parham told the Indianapolis Recorder in a January interview. Parham noted in the same conversation what had once been a congregation of more than 700 people several years ago was down to about 120.

Prior to reaching an agreement with Indianapolis-based Sun Development and Management Corp., Parham said the church turned down several offers and was instead working on a capital campaign to raise the $2 million to $3 million needed to make the necessary repairs to the building.

In addition to Bethel AME’s congregation having to rehome, the sale of the church raises concerns about conserving its history. The church, which is the oldest African-American church in the city, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Prior to the Civil War, Bethel AME was among the many refuges in the north for free Blacks, and it was a safe place for fugitive slaves to stop en route to Canada.

The church was founded in 1836 by William Paul Quinn and Augustus Turner and started as a small congregation that met in Quinn’s log cabin and went by the name “Indianapolis Station.”

According to the National Park Service within the U.S. Department of the Interior, “In 1841 a small house of worship was constructed, and by 1848 the church had 100 members and became active in the antislavery movement, often harboring fugitive slaves en route to Canada.”

Sun Development and Management Corp. has built hotels across the country and in Canada, including in several Indiana cities.

- Advertisement -

Upcoming Online Townhalls

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest local news.

Stay connected

1FansLike
1FollowersFollow
1FollowersFollow
1SubscribersSubscribe

Related articles

Popular articles

Español + Translate »
Skip to content