Butler Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church

Butler Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church. Butler County. , Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was founded in 1867 as an affiliate of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The church is named for the first pastor, Rev. Lewis Butler, who donated the land where the church now stands. The earliest organized religious and social institution fully controlled by African Americans in Greenville, Butler Chapel is also the oldest known independent Black congregation in Greenville. The church's wide-ranging influence in the community is most evident in the establishment of Butler County's earliest known high school for African Americans, Lomax-Hannon, established in 1893. The original church building provided classroom space for the high school from its inception in 1893 until 1898 when the property for the high school was purchased. The current church building was constructed in 1913, after a 1911 fire destroyed the original 1867 building. Forty-two outstanding pastors have served Butler Chapel over its 156 year history. Rev. Dr. James E. Cook, a local civil rights and community activist, had the longest tenure, serving the church for forty years from 1961 to 2001. , Listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on January 31, 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 1986