The Historic Allen Chapel AME Church

Allen Chapel AME is the oldest African American church in the quindaro area established in 1863 by three black leaders, Allen Chapel African Methodist Eposicoapl (AME) historic presence in Northeast Kansas City, Kansas continues to thrive as leadership connects the community with the history of the Quindaro Townsite. The AME church was prominent in the structure of Western University, the only Historically Black College and University in the state of Kansas. Today, the church is Led by Rev. Stacy R Evans, who is also director of the Western University Association of the AME Church Board and is leading the Quindaro Townsite preservation project. 

The AME Church

The AME church was created out of the Free African Society (FAS) which was established in Philadelphia in 1787 by Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and few others. While Allen and Jones were both limited to black congregations as preachers within the American Methodist, they nevertheless still faced discrimination, and so did black congregants. Prior to the civil war the geographical spread was through Northeast and Midwest portions of the United States. However during the civil war and reconstruction era the AME church with permission from the union army officials would move into states with failing confederacy to recruit newly freed slaves into the denominations. Today, the African Methodist Episcopal Church has membership in twenty Episcopal Districts in thirty-nine countries on five continents. 

History of Allen Chapel

Allen Chapel AME is the oldest African American church in the quindaro area, established in 1863 during an organizational meeting in straggler’s camp which was located on the south bank of the Missouri river between 1st and 6th Streets, Delaware to Wyandotte. Leaders such as Rev. John Loving, a methodist preacher from Quindaro, Kansas; Reverend Clark Moore, a Baptist minister affiliated with the mission, and Reverend Anderson, a Baptist preacher from Leavenworth led this meeting.  

Rev. Loving, once suggested by congregation member, Ms. Jane Shelby, to choose a denomination, organized the black methodists to create Allen Chapel A.M.E, now considered the “Mother of African Methodism”, in Kansas City.

As of 2022, Allen Chapel A.M.E is led by Rev. Stacy R. Evans who is prominent in the preservation of the quindaro townsite and its history. Rev. Evans also serves on the Western University Association of the AME Church Board. Because of the history of the church with the Quindaro and Western University, the congregation felt it was a responsibility to preserve its legacy. 

The AME and Western University 

In 1877 the Quindaro Freedman’s school closed following low attendance and cost. The AME church assumed sponsorship in 1881 following the suggestion of Baptist Deacon Corvin Patterson. The Kansas AME conference voted to rename the school to Western University and officially opened in 1882. By 1890 the AME Church assumed full sponsorship of the institution. 

The AME church made a bold decision to appoint William Tecumseh Vernon, head of the Collegiate Department, to be the institution’s president while he was only 25. His time as President of the university allowed him to grow prominence while leading the college to higher attendance, more funding, and more programs. Vernon later went on to serve as Register of the Secretary for both President Theodore Roosevelt and President William Howard Taft. In 1920 Vernon became a Bishop within the AME serving across the country and in Africa. However in 1932, the AME conference brought charges against him for misuse of conference funds. Nevertheless Vernon returned to Western University when the governor appointed him the head of the industrial department. Because of that decision the AME withdrew its support for the university.

While Western University closed in 1943, Allen Chapel AME still had church members who had attended the HBCU. The last living graduate of Western University was a member of Allen Chapel and passed in December of 2018. 

Evans, Rev. Stacy R . The More Things Change . . . . Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains, no. 42.

HISTORY, Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church . Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://www.allenchapelkc.org/history/.

History, African Methodist Episcopal Church . Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://www.ame-church.com/.

Fischer, Jr, William . Western University 1881 - 1943 — A Kansas City, Kansas Historic Site —, The Historical Marker Database. October 17th, 2013. Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=69459.

Hancks, Larry . QUINDARO 1856-1862 AND 1881-1948, Wyandot Nation of Kansas. March 2nd, 1984. Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://www.wyandot.org/wyandotKS/quindaro-1856-1862-and-1881-1948/.

WILLIAM T. VERNON, KC Black History. Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://kcblackhistory.org/articles/william-t-vernon.

Collins, Steve . WESTERN UNIVERSITY (1857-1943), Black Past. July 18th, 2012. Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/western-university-1857-1943/.