Chicago’s Oldest Black Church Is Now Debt-Free

Chicago’s Oldest Black Church Is Now Debt-Free

By Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Book Club Chicago

Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church has unshackled itself from the burden of debt.

Leaders of the 180-year-old Near South Side church, 2401 S. Wabash Ave., celebrated paying off the church’s $510,000 debt with a special mortgage burning ceremony earlier this month. Scores of members packed the pews for the event, said Pastor Troy K. Venning.

The church, a city landmark, now owns the building and two nearby lots outright.

“It was a full house,” Venning said of the celebration. “We had the Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., as our speaker. Not only did we burn the mortgage, but we also honored our Bishop John Franklin White and Supr. Penny Hartsfield White, who will be retiring at the General Conference in August. So we honored them with our two Archibald Carey Lifetime Achievement Awards.”

The celebration included renaming the fellowship hall for Venning’s predecessor, the  Rev. James Moody, and his wife, Corlis. Moody retired from his post in 2021.

Quinn Chapel AME at 2401 S. Wabash Ave. on Jan. 31, 2024 Credit: Maia McDonald/Block Club Chicago

Venning told Block Club earlier this year that the church’s new debt-free status paves the way for expanding its community event space and creating the Underground Railroad museum, which will be built in the church’s basement. The museum would serve as an on-site archive of the church’s history and contributions to the Underground Railroad.

Venning said that the home of Chicago’s oldest Black congregation is in the midst of a multi-million dollar restoration, with $5 million worth of work to go. Last year, members enjoyed air-conditioned services for the first time in the building’s 131-year history.

Venning said the church’s plans would also put Chicagoans to work, expanding opportunities for majority-minority and female contractors and managers and offering apprenticeships to add skilled laborers.

Quinn Chapel has joined preservationists and historians in an effort to get the National Park Service to recognize the Chicago To Detroit Freedom Trail. It would recreate the Underground Railroad route along which Quinn Chapel, previously located in the Loop, and the historic Olivet Baptist Church in Douglas served as stops for freedom seekers.

Historian Larry McClellan told Block Club that approximately 3,000 to 4,500 freedom seekers came to and through the Chicago area prior to the Civil War, and nearly all continued on toward Detroit and Canada.

The church continues to draw Hollywood’s attention as well. Its Romanesque Revival design has been featured in exterior shots for television shows like NBC’s “Chicago Fire” and Hulu’s Emmy Award-winning dramedy “The Bear, “while crews have used some of the church’s spaces for makeup rooms and production, Venning said.

“The Bear taped several things right outside Quinn Chapel. We probably don’t get productive credit for it,” Venning said. “In the first season of ‘Power Book IV: Force,’ there was a shootout right in front of our building. If you look at ‘Southside With You,’ they were filming at the church. We can go back to Halle Berry in ‘Losing Isaiah.’ Scenes from that movie were shot in the church. And Chicago Fire, I think, burns the church down as often as they can.”