Capers Memorial CME Church

Capers Memorial CME Church is a Tennessee historical marker in Davidson County.

Davidson Co, Nashville, 319 15th Ave,CME Church North

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The oldest known African-American congregation in Nashville, Capers Memorial Christian Methodist Church was founded in a brick house near Sulphur Springs, as the "African Mission" of McKendree Methodist Episcopal Church. When the congregation moved in 1851, Capers became the first local church edifice erected solely for Blacks. During the Civil War, the building was used as a military hospital by the Union Army. In 1870, Capers became a member of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church Conference. CONTINUED ON OTHER SIDE: Capers assisted in the founding of Lane College (1878), Bethlehem Center (1911), and the Missionary Connectional Council (1918), of which women's suffrage activist, Dr. Mattie E. Coleman was first president. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, its present Neoclassical building was designed and built in 1925 by McKissack and McKissack Architects, the founders of which were lifetime members of the congregation.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1844 · Kentucky (H. S. Tanner, 1844) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1851 · Tennessee, Alabama en Florida. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1864 · Kentucky And Tennessee (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1866 · Battlefields In Front Of Nashville. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · Battle-field, Nashville, Tenn. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

More markers nearby

Bethlehem Centers of Nashville 100th Anniversary (1894-1994)under 1 mi
First State Penitentiaryunder 1 mi
William Edmondson (c. 1883-1951)under 1 mi
Grace M. Eaton/Grace M. Eaton Dayhomeunder 1 mi

On the National Register nearby

Capers C.M.E. Church200 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.