LIST OF HIGHLIGHTED SIGNIFICANT SITES AND PEOPLE
KEY INSTITUTIONS, CIVIC, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
CHURCHES
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST The Church of Christ church met in the Storrs School’s Chapel for ten years until the first building was constructed at the corner of Courtland and Houston Street (John Wesley Dobbs Avenue) in 1877. The American Missionary Association (AMA) deeded the land to the congregation. 279 It was during this first period of the church (1867- 1894), between the formation of the church in Storr’s Chapel and the construction of the first church. The White New England and Midwest members who believed in a free and open society, moved to worship in a new church. That church once occupied the former site of Davidson’s (where Juke Joint is currently located) on Peachtree Street. 280 This church became Central Congregational Church and moved to and currently stands on Clairmont Road. It became apparent to White AMA leaders that Black leadership was necessary to further the development of the Black community; Jim Crow segregation made interracial alliances illegal. Henry Hugh Proctor was educated at Fisk University and Yale Divinity School and served as the first Black pastor of First Congregational Church. Booker T. Washington was present for the dedication to launching the new church in May 1908. The service was dedicated with a poem, “Groundbreaking.” 281
279 Homer C. McEwen, Sr, “First Congregational Church, Atlanta: For the Good of Man and the Glory of God”, The Atlanta Historical Bulletin, vol. XXI, no. 1, Spring 1977.
280 McEwen, “First Congregational,” p. 281 McEwen, “First Congregational,” p.
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