MassachusettsSt. John's Congregational Church and Parsonage/Parish Home for Working Girls in Springfield was completed in 1911 to the designs of Springfield architect B. Hammett Seabury, in a traditional English country-church form with Gothic and Shingle Style elements suited to its African American congregation. Under the Rev. William N. DeBerry, St. John's became a socially active 'institutional' church, creating an unparalleled program of social service, including a home for working girls, boys' and girls' clubs, an employment bureau, and a domestic-science night school, that helped Southern Black migrants adjust to Northern urban life, and it established Camp Atwater, the nation's first summer camp primarily for African American children. The property is significant under Criteria A, B, and C for its social and community work, its association with DeBerry, and its architecture.
Saint John's Congregational Church
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Saint John's Congregational Church is a landmark in Springfield, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 42.1079, -72.5683 near Springfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Saint John's Congregational Church Parsonage (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Hancock Apartment Building, McKnight, John D. House, and Simons, Henry K. House.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
St. John's Congregational Church traces its roots to the Sanford Street Church, founded by African American abolitionists in Springfield in 1844 and known as the 'Free Church.' Abolitionist John Brown was among its members, and the congregation hosted lectures by Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth as Springfield became a stop on the Underground Railroad. The present English Gothic Revival church was built in 1911 and the Colonial Revival parsonage in 1913; both were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 for their importance to the city's Black community.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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