New Bethel Baptist Church

The Helping Hand Society, a local prayer group, established the New Bethel Baptist Church in March 1932. Five ministers served as pastor through 1982: V. L. Bolton, H. H. Coleman, N. H. Armstrong, William E. Ramsey, and C. L. Franklin. In June 1961 Franklin, the father of Aretha Franklin, purchased this building after the congregation was forced to leave its site at 4210 Hastings Street in Paradise Valley for construction of the Chrysler Freeway. This building was constructed in 1927 as the Orient Theater and renamed the Oriole the same year. Franklin commissioned local architect Nathan Johnson to redesign it as a church. The redesign was considered “the first major” all-Black building project in Detroit. Church services began here on March 10, 1963.