Historic Black Churches of Kansas City Short Driving Tour

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Located here for many years, Watkins Brothers Funeral Home has been a longtime staple of the Black community in Kansas City. Founded by Theron B. Watkins and his brother J.T. in 1908, the funeral home served as the launching point for multiple community figures to begin lifetimes of activism. Founder Theron B. Watkins served on various boards, and was know as a powerful public speaker. In 1922, he ran a highly successful and broadly supported campaign for the office of Eighth Ward Representative, though he was ultimately not elected. His stepson, Bruce R. Watkins was also a highly influential member of his community and one of the most powerful voices behind the foundation and early success of the Black political organization known as Freedom, Inc. Working with notables such as Leon Jordan, Bruce Watkins helped to usher in landmark voter registration numbers and supported numerous successful candidates for municipal, state, and federal offices. The younger Watkins also served two terms on the City Council, two terms as a Circuit Clerk in Jackson County, and mounted a mayoral campaign in 1979. This location was home to Watkins Brothers for many years which now operates out of a new building on Emmanuel Cleaver Boulevard while this building is home to Golden Gate Funeral and Cremation Services.

2. Holy Name Catholic Church (Demolished)

Though only an empty lot remains of the once-prominent church, Holy Name Catholic Church was a major fixture of the area for many decades. Founded in January of 1886, the church originally served a mixture of white- and blue-collar white families. In the early 1900s, Black families began to move into the area, creating tension with white residents and changing the demographic of the congregation. In 1948, after the previous restrictive housing covenants were ruled illegal, more African-American families moved into the area as the white residents drained out to the suburbs. By the 1960s, the congregation was mostly African-American. The church played an important role in the development of the April 1968 riots that spread throughout Kansas City following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, the building was demolished in 2011, after sitting empty for several years, though elements of the stone were incorporated into to façade of Saint Peter's Parish. Despite its ignominious end, the history of Holy Name Catholic Church offers valuable insight into the history of the area, as well as providing an important dimension of the unrest that shook Kansas City in April of 1968.

3. Paseo Baptist Church

Paseo Baptist Church started as the Vine Street Baptist Church located on the 1800 Block of Vine Street before moving to 25th and Paseo. Under his expansion plan, $250,000 was raised to build the current structure and the name of the church was changed to Paseo Baptist Church. The church's outreach ministries grew significantly under the leadership of Reverend Daniel Arthur Holmes who was at the forefront of Kansas City's civic engagement scene until his retirement.

4. Bethel A.M.E. Church

Construction of this church began in 1912 with a basement structure that provided a home for a congregation that started with just eighteen members the year prior. Bethel A.M.E. became the city's first south of 18th Street, and by 1917, the congregation had grown to 170 members which reflected the growth of the African American population in this part of Kansas City. In 1926, the construction of an auditorium and Sunday School above the basement edifice was complete, providing space for a congregation that had grown to around seven hundred members. The congregation added a parsonage in 1942 and completely led numerous projects to improve and expand the church in the decades that followed culminating in the completion of the upper auditorium in 1976. In the decades that followed, the congregation has supported apprenticeship, employment, and educational programs, food assistance, and housing for senior citizens in the neighborhood.

5. St. Monica Catholic Church

Situated in a building off the west side of The Paseo, Saint Monica Catholic Church has been serving Catholics in the 18th and Vine area since its founding in 1910. A year earlier, Bishop John J. Hogan and Fr. Cyprian Sauer had come to the conclusion that the Black community in Kansas City, MO was criminally underserved, and sought to open a mission in the area. A year later, the St. Monica Mission for Colored Catholics was opened, with financial support from Bernard Corrigan and St. Katherine Drexel. St. Monica became the first Catholic church in Kansas City to cater specifically to the African-American population, including educational facilities for children. Unfortunately, according to the African-American History Trail of Kansas City, the buildings quickly became dilapidated, though fundraising led by Dr. Thomas E. Purcell allowed the church to be rededicated in 1913. The expanded campus included a convent, housing for priests, and additional school facilities in the basement and the first floor. Throughout the decades, the facilities and services have waxed and waned in tune with the needs of the community. In 1940, the church was renamed to St. Joseph Parish, operating under that name until a 1995 merger with the Church of the Risen Christ saw the congregation renamed to Saint Monica Catholic Church. Today, Saint Monica Catholic Church continues to provide ministry and services to its congregation and the community at large.

6. St. Stephen Baptist Church and Reverend John Wesley Williams Statue

Currently located in a building on the northwest corner of Truman Road and The Paseo, St. Stephen Baptist Church has long been a fixture of the Black community in Kansas City. Founded in 1903, St. Stephen Baptist Church was created by Reverend James Wesley Hurst on a street corner in the neighborhood of Belvidere Hollow. Since its inception, the congregation has weathered fires, changes in leadership, and multiple changes of venue before arriving at its current location. After a 1938 fire consumed the previous location, the congregation purchased and remodeled a dance hall on the northwest corner of The Paseo and Truman Road, where they have remained since 1945. In 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. made the first of his six visits to Kansas City by addressing a crowd of around 750 people at this church. Across the street from the building, on an island in the middle of The Paseo, there is a statue of notable Baptist and civil rights leader Reverend John Wesley Williams, who served as pastor of St. Stephen from 1944 to 1983. Though the church has continued to experience ups and downs in recent years, the efforts of Reverend Williams and others throughout the history of the church have made sure that St. Stephen will remain a landmark of the 18th and Vine Area.

This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.

Historic Black Churches of Kansas City Short Driving Tour

Created by Black Archives of Mid-America on March 1st 2023, 6:00:16 pm.

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Description

This driving tour includes several of the most historically-significant African American churches and church-adjacent institutions in and around the 18th and Vine district. In addition to long-standing institutions such as St. Stephen Baptist Church and St. Monica Catholic Church, the tour also includes the site of the now-demolished Holy Name Catholic Church, which played a key role in the 1968 riots that consumed much of Kansas City, and the former location of the Watkins Brothers Funeral Home, the proprietors of which were both highly prominent political and social activists.

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Historic Black Churches of Kansas City Short Driving Tour

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