BLOOMSBURG AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1941
In the 1860s there existed in Bloomsburg an A.M.E congregation. Most
likely, during this time they met in the homes of its members. The
trustees, William S. Lear, James Dennis, Henry Jones, John Brewer, and
Henry Mayhew, and the minister, William A. Chase, decided the time had
come to purchase a lot on the northeast corner of Jefferson and First
Streets to build a church. The property owners, Robert Cathcart, a
watchmaker, William G. Hurley, an attorney, agreed to sell the site with
forty feet of street frontage for $175.00. The purchase agreement
stipulated there would be six payments of $25.00 plus interest over a
three year period.
According to the 1870 federal census, Bloomsburg’s black population
was seventy-nine, making it the largest black community in Columbia
County. In the same year the A.M.E. congregation built and dedicated its
church, a two story frame structure. To support this endeavor, people in
the white community provided funds and donations of building materials.
A hundred years later, due to declining membership, as one member
described the situation, it became too difficult to maintain and
continue the church. It was torn down in 1980 when the Hawthorn Heights
housing project was built.
