Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church

How did a church become a symbol of community resilience? The Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago stands as a testament to faith and change. This church wasn’t always Baptist. It began in 1906 as the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, a German congregation designed by architect Theodore Duesing. The neighborhood changed, the congregation changed. In 1923, the church became the First Christian Reformed Church, serving the Dutch Groninger Hoek community. This community, known for dominating Chicago’s garbage collection industry, eventually moved west, leaving the church to be acquired by the Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church in 1944. Under the leadership of Reverend Henry Rutherford Stephenson, Zion Hill served as a spiritual anchor for the Black community. In the 1950s, a young Ramsey Lewis, later a jazz legend, played the organ here, his first job out of high school. After Reverend Stephenson’s death, the church faced internal divisions. Reverend E.W. Williamson, who succeeded Stephenson, attempted to move the church to the South Side, leading to a split in the congregation. The faction that remained eventually became St. Stephenson Missionary Baptist Church. The original Zion Hill congregation continued on the South Side. The building on Ashland Avenue, meanwhile, faced challenges. The surrounding Grace Abbott Homes, a public housing development, were torn down in the mid-2000s. This further destabilized the area. After bankruptcy and foreclosure, the church building, having lost its cupola, decayed and was demolished in 2021. The site was purchased with plans for new development, though it remains vacant today. The Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church’s story is one of resilience. It reflects the changing demographics of the neighborhood, the struggles of its community, and the enduring power of faith amidst transition.