Original Site of Toledo’s Oldest Black Institution / Warren African Methodist Episcopal Church

Side A: In 1847, eight persons formed a mission parish of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Sandusky Circuit). Reverend Henry J. Young, the minister, had come to Toledo through the Underground Railroad, as had some of his congregation. Richard Mott and Congressman James Mitchell Ashley helped the mission to rent a frame building on the southwest corner of Adams and Summit streets. The mission later became the Toledo Circuit of the A.M.E. Church. Side B: On August 1, 1864, a cornerstone was laid for a new church at 15 N. Erie Street, along the Erie Canal. Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, famous Black Abolitionists, spoke at the ceremony. In 1865, Reverend Charles Warren became the pastor for the congregation. In 1871, Bishop D. A. Payne dedicated and named the new church “Warren Chapel” in honor of Reverend Warren. The congregation relocated at 749 Norwood Avenue in 1950.