West End Hills Missionary Baptist Church
West End Hills Missionary Baptist Church is a historic church located at 1680 19th Place Southwest in Birmingham's Powderly neighborhood.
The congregation was organized in 1921 as the Collage Park Church [sic]. The trustees purchased the present site from West Hills, Inc. in 1947 and met there in a tent until construction of a permanent building began in 1959.
The church was built in stages with the concrete basement serving as a sanctuary until the upper floor was completed. The finished sanctuary was dedicated on May 31, 1965. The building is a one-story Colonial Revival structure with a gable roof and brick veneer. The east entrance is decoarted with a covered portico and an octagonal belfry and spire. The sides of the building are divided by small buttresses between windows.
Pastor Coleman Smith was an active member of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and hosted meetings in the church of members and neighbors interested in participating in the Civil Rights Movement. In the mid-1960s the church continued to serve as an important center for activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the NAACP, and the Southern Conference Educational Fund.
Because of its importance to the movement, the church was added to the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama 1933-1979 Multiple Property Submission in the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 2005.
Pastors
- H. B. Brown, 1940s
- Coleman Smith, 1960s
- W. J. Jackson, 2000s
References
- Van West, Caroll (March 22, 2004) "West End Hills Missionary Baptist Church." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form