Edwards Chapel Christian Church

The Edwards Chapel Christian Church is a 1939 bungalow-style home. It was built as a small family home on independence avenue and was listed on The Arkansas Register of Historic Places in 2017. The notability of this building is due to its connection with The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It is the first meeting place for that denomination in the city and county. The church itself was founded in 1868 as a biracial church in the community of Coal Hill, about 20 miles from the 1939 building. The current location of the church is on Independence Avenue. According to Arkansas Heritage and other local histories, Pope Kelley was re-founded, by a white man for local white citizens and freedpeople.

The current structure was owned by an African American man named Willie James. This is notable considering that land ownership was more difficult for Black men to achieve due to the legacy of slavery and discrimination. The church board purchased the lot and building from Mr. James for it to be converted into a church. The congregation then purchased two additional lots adjacent to the property once owned by James. The fellowship hall and kitchen attached to the home structure were added after the printing of the Sanborn Fire Maps of the 1920’s-1940s. They were likely added to support the growing faith community. The church in which the current congregation meets is located about five blocks from the tiny home they once used.

The biracial congregation indicates a willingness to comingle and even worship in the same space despite the structures of Jim Crow. Further, Boyett notes in his article, Black male participation in this time would’ve been unusual given that Black women during this time tended to be more likely to participate in religion. Willie James’s prominence in the community and willingness to sell his land to the church to support the church shows the importance of this building to the local African American community.

Boyett, Gene W.. The Black Experience in the First Decade of Reconstruction in Pope County, Arkansas. Arkansas Historic Quarterly, ser. Summer 1992, vol. 51, no. 2119 - 134. JSTOR.

Edwards Chapel Christian Church, Arkansas Heritage. Accessed December 7th 2021. https://www.arkansasheritage.com/arkansas-register/edwards-chapel-christian-church.

Julia Matthews Gardner, “Early Churches of Pope County,” Arkansas Valley Historical Papers, n.17 (August 1958). pp. 3-4. Gene W. Boyett, “The Black Experience in the First Decade of Reconstruction in Pope County, Arkansas,” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 2 (Summer 1992). pp. 128-129.

J. B. Lemley, “Cemeteries of Pope County, Arkansas,” Pope County Genealogy and Family Group, 2nd Edition, Little Rock: 1981. Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy, “Dwight Mission,” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Central Arkansas Library System, www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net, accessed 1 September 2017.