Our History

Our History

The Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church

Baltimore, Maryland

It started in 1844

In 1844 Rev. Jacob M. Moore, a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church and several committed parishioners formed Zion’s first society in the city of Baltimore, MD. They initially met on May 31, 1841 and a few months later on January 8, 1842, the church was incorporated as the First Colored Independent Wesleyan Methodist Society of the city of Baltimore.

In 1844 Rev. Moore was ordained as the church was accepted in membership at the first meeting of the Philadelphia Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (a district that included churches from Baltimore to Philadelphia and points in between). The church flourished and by 1846, the membership of the newly admitted society grew to nearly 600 parishioners.

Rev. Mark M. Bell, the first secretary of the denomination’s Foreign Mission Boards, served as pastor between 1869 - 1877 and 1897 - 1904. Under the pastorate of Rev. B.J. Bolding in 1904, our first church building located at 1125 Pennsylvania Avenue, with approximately 200 members in regular attendance, was purchased at a cost of $16,000.

The Rev. Dr. George Marion Edwards was appointed to serve as pastor of the Church in May 1931, and served until September 1959. On October 4, 1959, the then Rev. Clinton Reuben Coleman (later elected a Bishop in the A.M.E. Zion Church), assumed pastoral leadership of Pennsylvania Avenue. He built upon the church’s strong foundation and history and increased the involvement of the membership by among other innovative ideas, establishing additional membership organizations.

Following Bishop Coleman’s leadership, the then Rev. Marshall Haywood Strickland (later elected a Bishop in the A.M.E Zion Church) was appointed to lead our congregation in 1972. Just three years later in 1975, and in keeping with the goals set under his pastoral leadership, ground was broken for a state-of-the-art church building that would be located at the South West corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Dolphin Street. Two years later a jubilant congregation marched into a brand new church on Sunday, April 10, 1977. The church continued to grow and the ministry flourished. On May 15, 1988 the mortgage was burned.

Continuing the legacy of a historic church and great pulpiteers, the (then) Rev. Dr. Dennis V. Proctor was appointed as pastor of the historic Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E Zion Church in 1992. Dr. Proctor’s pastorate and vision for over a decade had increased membership to 1,800. In 2008, Dr. Proctor was elected the 97th Bishop in succession in the A.M.E. Zion Church.

On September 7, 2008, the Rt. Rev. Warren M. Brown appointed the Rev. Lester A. McCorn as the Senior Pastor. He capably and faithfully served this congregation until July 2017 when he was appointed as the President of Clinton College in Rock Hill, South Carolina in July 2017.

Following the departure of Dr. McCorn, Bishop W. Darin Moore appointed the Baltimore District’s Presiding Elder, the Rev. Dr. Evalina S. Huggins, as the Supply Pastor.

On September 16, 2017 at the fourth Check-Up Meeting of the Philadelphia-Baltimore Conference held at the Union Wesley AME Zion Church, Washington, DC the Rt. Rev. Darin Moore presented and appointed the Rev. Milton Alexander Williams, Jr. as pastor of the Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church. Pastor Williams, now completing his second year as pastor is successfully leading this historic church into a scripturally-based, spirit-filled, community-focused future.
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