Church Street Community

Church Street Community. . Throughout much of the twentieth century, Church Street was the heart of a vibrant black community, filled with movement, color, and sound. Those who lived, worked, or visited there described it as "an experience.", The area was a bustling community of families and businesses. There were restaurants, grocery stores, doctors offices, funeral homes, cab stands, churches, clothing stores, beauty shops, and insurance companies. The Princess Theatre, movie house for the black community, Madison Connty Fairgrounds, and the American Legion Wilson Jones Post 351 were there. Local black newspapers, the Huntsville Gazette, the Huntsville Weekly Review, and the Huntsville Mirror, were also at one time on Church Street., [Reverse] , The Church Street Community Center, housed in the Binford Miller Building, was an activity center for black youth. In 1951, the building also became the relocation site of the Dulcina DeBerry Library, Huntsville's first branch library for black residents., On Church Street, the Second Cumberland Presbyterian and First Missionary Baptist churches served as gathering places for civil rights activists during the 1960's. Two other houses of worship, St. John AME and Phillips Chapel CME, were also located on Church Street., On Saturdays, blacks from throughout Madison County and surrounding communities came to Church Street for shopping, dining, visiting, and entertainment. With the advent of urban renewal and integration in the late 196O's, families and the once-thriving black business community along Church Street began migrating away from the area., Sponsored by the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society and the Huntsville-Madison County Bicentennial Committee