Alabama Penny Savings Bank/Pythian Temple Building

Alabama Penny Savings Bank/Pythian Temple Building. Destination. Built 1913, 310 18th St. N. , The Alabama Penny Savings Bank, founded by Sixteenth Street Baptist Church pastor Rev. William R. Pettiford, was Alabama's first Black-owned bank and the second-largest Black bank in the country by 1907. He hired Black architects and builders to construct the building as a vibrant symbol of Black enterprise in Birmingham. Rev. Pettiford used the bank to finance the construction of homes, churches and businesses for thousands of Birmingham's Black citizens who could not get loans elsewhere. After the bank closed in 1915, the Alabama Knights of Pythias fraternal organization bought the building to house its grand lodge. Like the nearby Colored Masonic Temple, the Pythian Temple was a social hub and office center for Black professionals. Millionaire businessman A. G. Gaston later bought the building to house some of his business enterprises., "Black pastors often filled the economic and spiritual needs of people.", Rev. Wilson Fallin , President of Birmingham Baptist College., Lesson C22: Read Rev. Fallin's book, "The African American Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1815-1963: A Shelter in the Storm."