St. Paul A.M.E. Church

St. Paul A.M.E. Church. . By the turn of the twentieth century, African Americans were gathering on Hardaway Street in a brush arbor to worship. In 1907, they incorporated what is now known as St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, with Rev. Felix Strum serving as the first pastor, Rev. W. W. Frazier as presiding elder, and Bishop L. J. Chopin as presiding prelate. Among the founding members were Phillip William, Oliver Jones, Lewis Fulson, Dock Henry, Eugene Jackson, and Verlin Jones. The church was destroyed by fire in 1933 and for a time met in Tullibody Auditorium at the nearby State Teachers College (now Alabama State University). In 1934, a new church was built at the corner of Hall and Payne streets. , Rosa Parks was an active member of the church in the 1950s, serving as a Sunday School teacher and Deaconess; Rev. Henry A. Duncombe Sr. served as pastor and Rev. Lucius Fortson was presiding elder. On December I, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger, a brave act of defiance which launched the Montgomery bus boycott and the modern civil rights movement. , The church relocated to this location in 1998. A funeral service for Rosa Parks was held here on October 30, 2005. Blessed throughout its history, St. Paul A. M. E. Church has carried out its mission with a spirit of love even in turbulent times.