Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church

Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. . The First Baptist Church was established in Apalachicola in 1848 under the leadership of a White minister. According to the Tennessee Baptist - published October 24, 1857, Rev. E. H. Warren became the pastor of the Church in December 1855. Records indicate that Pastor Warren's tenure was tumultuous. Warren wrote that Black congregants numbered about 50 and Whites numbered half that. According to Warren's letters, Whites and Blacks didn't worship at the same time in the building., Homer Bryant and Bernard Lopez, free Black men who could read and write, were important during the beginning of the Apalachicola Church. Pastor Warren reported that Blacks became dissatisfied with him as pastor. When Mrs. Lopez, wife of Bernard Lopez, was asked why the Negroes refused Brother Warren as the Minister, she said, "Because he was a slaveholder and favored slavery." Pastor Warren wrote that Homer Bryant called for a Church Conference, and at that Conference, Bernard Lopez was ordained and became the first Black pastor of the church. At this point, Pastor Warren writes that he "...quit the field.", "It is the general concession that the black church is the largest, most intelligent and most wealthy part of the Baptist interest in your town. It is evident then, I think, that they ought to have received as much, even more, attention than whites." - Excepts from a letter dated, December 22, 1856 written to "Bro. Warren," pastor of the First Baptist Church of Apalachicola. The letter was signed by W. M. Davis, Pastor of the Greenwood FL Baptist church. , Historical records of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church indicate that the ministry originated in a Little Red Church at Block 30, Lot 7 of the City of Apalachicola, Florida. A second building was erected in 1889 on the site of the first church but it faced 8th Street. In 1917, under the leadership of Rev. A. F. Martin, George H. Marshall, a prominent local Euro American builder, completed the current masonry structure that is the church today. Built of cast concrete block with a rusticated surface, the Mount Zion Church is a unique structure in Apalachicola. Stepped parapet gable walls face Avenue E and 8th Street, while a crenelated bell tower nestles in the western intersection of the t-shaped structure. The bell was donated by Mrs. Ruge, wife of a local seafood cannery businessman. , In the early days of its existence, the church was called by two names, First Baptist Church and Mt. Zion Baptist Church., Pastors , Rev. Spencer Baker (1850) . Rev. Carter (1885) . Rev. A. Frederick Martin (1917) . Rev. Monroe (1919) . Rev. C.H. Hawkins (1921) Rev. Rivers (1923) . Rev. Duck (1926) . Rev William Ming (1931) . Rev. Cox (1936) . Rev. T.J. Smith (1944) . Rev. Ernest Raines (1952) . Rev. Sylvester R. Bright (1954) . Rev. Thomas Banks (1958) . Rev. Deborders (1962) . Rev. Sermon (1964) . Rev. Raymond A. Rodger’s (1965) and bull; Rev. Leon Jones (1994) Rev. Carl E. Bailey (1998) . Rev. James Brown (2005) . Rev. James E. Brooks (2006) . Rev. Barry L. Hand, Read the full history of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church and learn more about the people and places of Apalachicola's Black History Trail by scanning the QR code above or by visiting cityofapalachicola.com.