Key Memorial United Methodist Church Circa 1865 - Present

Following the Civil War, local African American Methodist sought to establish their own church. In 1866, the Rev. Braxton James, formerly of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, led efforts to establish a new church- named James Chapel Methodist--at the corner of College and Highland streets. The Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held its first session there in October 1866 and admitted 30 ministers, 8 of whom were African American. In 1880 the Rev. Hillary Key led the congregation to build a new structure, and the congregation later re-named the church Key's Chapel Methodist Church. The church succumbed to fires in the 1920s and 1963. The church moved to its present location in 1967.