Baltimore’s Prince Hall Lodge on Eutaw Street traces its origins to New England in 1784, where Prince Hall, the father of black Masonry in the United States, is credited with making it possible for African Americans to become Masons. In 1960, the Prince Hall Grand Lodge moved to this location on Eutaw Place, under the leadership of Samuel T. Daniels. While much of the organization’s contributions are known only to members, the impact on the Old West Baltimore community is as evident as the architecture of its landmark headquarters, a former synagogue. The Prince Hall Masons prioritize “mentoring, instructing, and inspiring.” The group’s history of providing charitable donations and educational scholarships bares this out and is legend in Baltimore communities.

Among the members of The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland are the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and James Hubert “Eubie” Blake, a composer, lyricist, and pianist who played ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In collaboration with arranger Noble Sissle, Blake wrote the Broadway Shuffle Along in 1921, the first Broadway musical ever written by African Americans. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited the lodge in 1964 on behalf of President Johnson’s election campaign.

1307 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD 21217

“I am the one who said all along I will not go to jail, but I will help others who go. But this morning I said to myself, I have nothing to lose but my chains. So if I do not preach at my pulpit Sunday morning, it might be the most eloquent sermon I ever preached.”

Designed by Thomas Balbirnie in the Greek Revival style as the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in 1857, the Douglas Memorial Community Church is one of the oldest public buildings in the area. Granite stairs and iron railings lead to the upper level main entrance. The brick columns sit on cast-iron bases and have a fluted cement stucco finish from the base to their Corinthian sandstone capitals. Several gas fixtures can still be found here. Red sandstone or “brownstone” sills and Greek Revival bracketed cornices trim the doorways and window openings. Similar styles are repeated in the interior chancel and balconies. Reportedly built and installed by E. & G. Hook in 1866, the organ stands with many of its original pipes. The Narthex floor is surfaced with a multi-colored ceramic tile. The “undercroft” was designed to seat 600 while the sanctuary seats 1,000.

In 1850, Baltimore held the largest denominational variety of African American churches in the country. On the eve of the Civil War, a reporter for New York’s Weekly Anglo-African newspaper wrote…“No city where I have been can boast of better churches among our people. Baltimore churches are not a whit behind, either in beauty or attendance for our people are a church going people.”

The Bethel A.M.E. congregation began as a prayer group, the Colored Methodist Society, in 1787. Ten years later, the group became the Bethel Free African Society (BFAS), led by “prayer leaders” Jacob Forte and Caleb Hyland. In 1801 a black preacher named Daniel Coker joined the BFAS prayer group. Coker was an eloquent speaker, educator, and philosopher, and by 1810 became the head of a school that provided formal education to blacks. He became the first black Marylander to publish an abolitionists treatise, A Dialogue between a Virginian and an African Minister. In 1811 he became the first “official” pastor for Bethel, and the church became known as the African Methodist Bethel Church of Baltimore City with a roster of over 600 members.

In 1816 Bethel sent six delegates to Philadelphia, led by Coker, to help establish the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first denomination in the world to form on account of race. Coker was elected the first bishop of the A.M.E. Church by conference delegates, however, he declined and the next day Reverend Richard Allen was elected the first Bishop of the A.M.E. Church. Coker became the church’s first missionary to move to Liberia, West Africa.

In 1847, Bethel became the first A.M.E church to play instrumental music during services. Bethel, then located a half block away from today’s City Hall, and helped organize the first conference of Free Negroes in 1852. In 1910, the church moved to its Druid Hill and Lanvale streets location. In the 1950s and 60s, clergy from Bethel participated in the protests against Jim Crow laws. Reverend Harrison Bryant, Pastor (1948-64), and Reverend Frank M. Reid II (1964-68) became involved in national and international civil rights activism. Rev. Reid marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Alabama. At the age of 85, Bryant was incarcerated for protesting at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C.

1300 Druid Hill Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217

By 1860 the African American community thrived on the foundation of more than 16 churches and missions throughout Baltimore. By 1900, more than 12 African American churches resided in Old West Baltimore alone. They helped give birth to and nurture almost every civic institution in the community: Provident Hospital, the YMCA and YWCA, the DuBois Circle, Niagara Movement - Baltimore Chapter, Morgan College, the Young People Movement, and many more. Within the walls of the church, a sense of security hovered, eclipsing Baltimore’s often racist society.

Mutual Brotherhood of Liberty key to Niagara Movement, NAACP in Baltimore

The Union Baptist Church, begun in 1852, moved to Druid Hill Avenue in 1905. The church, especially under the leadership of Dr. Harvey Johnson, led many civil rights initiatives including the creation of the Mutual Brotherhood of Liberty, and helped co-found the Niagara Movement and the NAACP Baltimore Chapter. During the 1960s, mostly under the direction of Dr. Vernon Dobson, Union Baptist Church became a meeting place for many civil rights activities including Baltimore’s participation in the 1963 March on Washington.

Named in honor of its original location, Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church descends from the first black congregation in Baltimore. In 1797, blacks gathered at 112-116 Sharp Street where the Maryland Society for the Abolition of Slavery opened the Baltimore African Academy, the City’s first prominent day school for blacks. The Society sold the property including the lot and building in 1802 to the black congregation. The church then constructed a new building on the property, which quickly became a community hub where people gathered to worship, discuss abolitionism and African colonization, raise money to purchase the freedom of slaves, hear advocates speak, and receive schooling.

In 1864, the church hosted the first regional conference for African American Methodists, resulting in the first appointment of black pastors and creation of a black governing board. Following its congregation into northwest Baltimore, the church erected the present building designed by Alphonsus Bieler in 1898. In 1921, Arthur M. Segoin, one of the few black architects in the country, designed the adjacent Community House, the first of its kind in Baltimore.

Where church, school, civil rights, and jobs meet

Throughout the late 19th century, this congregation ran the Sharp Street School, assisted in founding the Centenary Biblical Institute (becoming Morgan State College) and a city-wide ministerial alliance. The church also operated an intelligence (employment) bureau, and founded Mt. Auburn Cemetery, one of the few early African American cemeteries in Baltimore, and where hundreds of prominent African Americans are buried including Dr. Lillie Carroll Jackson, William A. Hawkins, and John H. Murphy, founder of The Afro-American Newspapers.

In the 20th century, many civil rights activities found a home at Sharp Street Memorial Church.

1206 Etting Street, Baltimore, MD 21217

Macedonia Baptist Church started out in the loft of a Vincent Alley stable. Much of the credit for founding the church goes to W. Charles Lawson, Leander Jones and others, all former members of Union Church, who started with Sunday school and a prayer meeting in 1874. On September 29, 1874, a meeting was called to organize their new church. The church grew rapidly. First they remodeled the stable, replaced the floor and then installed seats.

At the meeting after prayers by Brother W.H. Hamer, sixteen members of Union Church presented a letter of commendation.

Mr. Weishampel then presented and explained a Baptist manual which was unanimously adopted. Several prominent religious leaders from Old West Baltimore addressed the body including Rev. G.W. Sanderlin, pastor of Franklin Square Church, and Rev. Harvey Johnson of Union (Baptist) Church. On November 5, 1874, Macedonia was recognized by a council representing nine churches.

Founded in June 1888, Trinity Baptist Church sprouted from a Sunday school in East Baltimore and in 1920 moved into the former St. Paul Lutheran Church building. Its founder, Reverend Dr. Gamett Russell Waller, started with 14 members. Trinity Baptist grew to become an influential congregation which helped pioneer a kindergarten teachers training program, an evening training school for ministers, and the Baptist Ministers’ Conference. Trinity also became integral in the Baltimore Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Waller was Maryland’s representative to the Niagara Movement, a national civil rights organization founded in 1905 and spearheaded by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois that predated the NAACP.

Dr. Waller who co-founded Baltimore’s NAACP and the Colored YMCA with Dr. Harvey Johnson and Mr. S.S. Booker, a Trinity Baptist lay member, was 11th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and its first General Secretary. The 7th pastor, Reverend William C. Calhoun, Sr., established the first ecumenical TV broadcast ministry, Lift Every Voice, portraying the diversity of worship in black churches in 1980, and lasting nearly 25 years on Baltimore’s WMAR TV. The church is aligned with the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Churches, USA.

1600 Druid Hill Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217

Orchard Street Church was founded in 1825 by Truman Le Pratt, a former slave of Maryland Governor John Eager Howard. The congregation originally gathered in Le Pratt’s home, the only place of worship for African Americans in the community. The congregation grew quickly and built Orchard Street United Methodist Church in 1837, formerly known as the Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church.

The church provided housing, jobs, medical care and spiritual guidance to African Americans and others seeking freedom and equality. Closing its doors in 1970, the church remained vacant for 22 years until it reopened as the headquarters for the Baltimore Urban League (founded 1924).

Under the leadership of president and League CEO Roger Lyons, the structure was completely renovated. The League, under the leadership of President J. Howard Henderson, continues the church’s original mission: to advocate and provide social services for those in need. The site hosts several historical re-enactments that include excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sermons and Harriett Tubman helping slaves on the way to freedom. The building currently houses the Mt. Sinai congregation on Sundays and several after school programs.