Lakeland's Historic Black Churches

In 1886 The Savannah Morning News reported the organization of a Baptist church in the “Colored Community.” This was in reference to St. John’s Baptist Church which was established in 1884 almost a full year prior to Lakeland being incorporated. The wood frame building stood on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Orange Street. Rev. Peter Gant was the first minister and was instrumental in founding the church. A stove warmed the building in cold weather which led to a fire that destroyed the structure in 1898. 

It took more than twenty years to rebuild to structure. The community met in local homes and ardently fundraised. In 1922 the red-brick, Gothic style structure with cut-glass windows opened at 930 North Dakota Avenue (now Martin Luther King Drive). The first service was held in May of 1922 under the name of First Baptist Institutional Church (FBIC.) The church has continuously led programs and ministries through the First South Florida Association, Congress #3.

Foster Memorial United Methodist Church split from the Mt. Pleasant AME group in Lakeland. The facility, built in the early 1900s, included fundraising efforts from both the Black and white communities. The integrated services were well attended. Lectures and programs at Foste continued to generate attention for decades with notable speakers. In 1959 the church underwent a $5000 renovation of the facility. This church along with Mt. Pleasant served as a strategic planning site to “battle racial discrimination” during the time of civil unrest.

In the 1970s urban renewal occurred in and around the Morehead Community. This displaced many families whose homes were set for demolition. Foster Memorial located in the center of Morehead, became a meeting place for relocation service assistance to families needing assistance moving out of the area. The church itself fell victim to renewal in 1972 and was demolished.

Zion is a Hebrew word meaning "highest point" and is referenced in the Old Testament as another name for Jerusalem. One of Lakeland’s earliest Black churches was the Zion Hill Methodist Church. It was built in the 1900s at 1406 N Third Street. The small wooden structure is enumerated on local maps. There were several other Zion Methodist Churches in Polk County located in Lake Wales and Bartow per a 1939 survey of Black churches conducted for the Works Progress Administration.

Several events occur in the late 1920s that caused the church to dissolve. The city built the Lake Ridge Housing Project. This required acquiring several blocks of land on which the Zion Hill Church was built. In 1938 a Colored Auditorium was built on the exact spot the church formerly sat.

The congregation sold the land and planned on rebuilding at another location. At this time it is not evident where it was rebuilt. Within a few years the Church of God was constructed at the corner of New York Avenue and Second Street. This may have filled the need for the nearby community.

The Harmony Mission Baptist Church, founded in 1900, was built in 1926 after church members collected money for a physical church. Built at the corner of Memorial Boulevard and Florida Avenue at a cost of $48,000, the red brick structure with white trim stood as a landmark for the Northwest Lakeland community for many decades. Inside the sanctuary were rows of African mahogany pews illuminated by the stained glass windows along each side. The older church was removed due to widening of US Highway 98. The facility had been hit several times by semi-trucks unable to navigate around the steps of the church. It was vacated in 1978 and finally demolished in 1982. The current church stands at 1645 North Webster Avenue. 

Before the structure was even built Harmony Baptist Church organized a series of public health lectures which addressed the growing concerns of tuberculosis and its impact on Black citizens in 1915. These programs were attended by the then Mayor O.M. Eaton and other city commissioners.  

During World War I, Harmony Baptist Church hosted fundraising events to support the local Red Cross. The Church continues to support the community with a food pantry.

Teaspoon Hill, the second all Black community in Lakeland, began increasing in population in the 1900s. Parishioners had to walk to the Mt. Pleasant Church for services in the Morehead area. A group organized to build a church nearer to their residences. Property was acquired in 1916 at a cost of $200. Due to segregation and discomfort coming out of their community, church members met at private homes while more funds grew. Groundbreaking for the New Bethel AME Church occurred in 1927 at 1030 North Dakota Avenue. By 1944 all of the construction was completed and the mortgage paid off. Extra funds allowed the church to purchase its first organ that same year.

Between 1965 and 1975 property was purchased for erection of new church. A new sanctuary was completed at 2122 Martin Luther King Ave (formerly Dakota Ave) in 1983. Due to increase in congregation population and revivals the church was free of debt by 2002.

The doctrine of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) churches, predated by the AME Zion churches, evolved from a need of Black churches to provide education to a newly emancipated community. They church provided a stabilizing environment during a time of transition.

The Lakeland Mt. Pleasant AME Church, founded near the turn of the century, was the first Methodist Church for Blacks in the area. It was originally located at the corner of Ohio and Orange Avenues A red brick, Gothic style structure was later built at 407 Eighth Street. The architecture included three identical entrances from various sides of the building. Stained glass windows adorned the sanctuary. A bell tolled for the start of Sunday services and funerals.

The Church became a place of meeting beyond the original intents. Community meetings were held here that support US military activities, service members and their families during both World War I and II. The current address is 1308 Virginia Avenue. The older parsonage was turned into an office for counseling services.

What started as a small church located at 1702 New York Avenue in the 1920s grew to become a bedrock of the community over 100 years. Known at the time as St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, fundraising efforts and stewardship programs through the 1930s gave opportunity to build a structure at 1300 Virginia Avenue in the 1940s. By the 1960s the name was changed to Greater St. Paul MBC. The church found itself in need of a home with urban renewal projects that displaced many in the Morehead area in the 1970s.

A former all-white church, Webster Avenue Baptist, offered the space to GSPMBC. The new address of 1130 North Webster Avenue has given rise to substantial growth in both the physical structures and church membership since 1977. To build better morale and positive outreach, ministers swapped with the white church congregations.

The youth education program included opening an elementary school and child day care facilities where children learn how to work together with their other students and their peers.