Hartford Memorial Baptist Church
N 42° 25.722 W 083° 11.003
17T E 320392 N 4699685
Church on service drive of the Lodge Expressway
Waymark Code: WMV1MF
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 02/08/2017
Views: 8
The Hartford Memorial congregation was the first African American church on Detroit's west side. It began, under Rev. Edgar Edwards (1875-1942), AS the International, Interracial, Interdenominational, Institutional Baptist Church in 1917. Under its second pastor, The Rev Charles A. Hill (1893-1970), it was incorporated in 1921 on Hartford Avenue. In 1924, it built a new church at 6300 Hartford, where it remained until 1972. The church, through its ministries, led civil and equal rights efforts to organize Ford Motor Company United Automobile Works, prevent exclusion of blacks from the World War II era Sojourner Truth Housing Project, and support the 1986 Dearborn economic Boycott.
In 1877, Hartford Avenue Baptist Church moved into this building and took the name Hartford Memorial. When Covenant Baptist Church held the first worship services in the building on New Years Eve 1942, only the basement and entrances were complete due to World War II shortages. The sanctuary and two stories were added in 1950 and the north wing in 1962. Hartford remodeled the sanctuary in 1988 and added the large Petty-Madden pipe organ. The chapel was restored after a 1993 fire. Expanding its faith-based ministries, Hartford dedicated the Charles G. Adams Fellowship Hall in 1977, the Agape House in 1982, the Biblical Institute in 1989, and the Educational Center in 2010.
Parking nearby?: yes
Registered Site #: L2268
Historical Date: Not listed
Historical Name: Not listed
Description: Not listed
D/T ratings: Not listed
website: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:Take a photo of your GPS at the marker. We'd prefer a photo of you with your GPS, but we realize that sometimes that's just not possible or preferable.
Also include a bit about your visit to the marker.
NEW: Instructions for logging Missing Marker Visits.
If the Marker is missing, but still listed here, you must provide a photo of you at the actual item historically honored. (This should be the waymark's "default" image). Indicate in your log that you took your photo at the Historical Location instead of the marker, because the marker was missing. Please also still include a bit about your visit to the site.