Birmingham Churches and Their Cornerstones 72
St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church is Birmingham’s oldest A.M.E. congregation. It was founded in 1873. Its current building was designed by the firm of Davis, Speake & Associates, now known as Davis Architects. The building was erected in 1973, one hundred years after the congregation was founded and dedicated in May 1974. With its minimal use of windows, it is clearly a church built in the age of air conditioning and electric light.
The previous building was located on the same site. In it the funeral of Carole Robertson on September 17, 1963. She was one of the young vicitms of the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The church is three blocks from that church and two blocks from St. Paul United Methodist Church.
The current pastor of St. John is Ronald Sterling who is celebrating fifteen years serving the church in 2024. He also serves as direstor of students services and placement services at Smford University’ Beeson Divinity School.
Read this first post for more on this series on Birmingham churches and their cornerstones.
Chasing Churches 