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Big Bethel AME Church

African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia (U.S. state)Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and Preservation DistrictMethodist churches in AtlantaOld Fourth WardSweet Auburn
Big Bethel AME Church 1
Big Bethel AME Church 1

The Big Bethel AME Church is the oldest African-American congregation in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, and according to AME historical documents, it is the mother church of AME in North Georgia. It is located at 220 Auburn Avenue NE in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood. It is the "first" church on the North Atlanta District, in the Atlanta-North Georgia Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.Big Bethel was founded in 1847 as Union Church in the town of Marthasville, Georgia. Marthasville became Terminus, and finally Atlanta, and Union Church became Bethel Church, then Bethel Tabernacle. At the close of the Civil War, the AME Church spread rapidly throughout the former Confederacy, and the Bethel Tabernacle allied herself with the denomination, becoming Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her first pastor was Rev. Joseph Woods.In 1879, the first public school for blacks in Atlanta, Gate City Colored School, was founded in the basement of the church, though it would later move to Houston Street. Morris Brown College held its first classes here in 1881 before moving to its first campus. Big Bethel was known as "Sweet Auburn's City Hall." In 1911, President William Howard Taft spoke here, as did Nelson Mandela in 1990.Heaven Bound is a show written by congregants that is performed annually at the church.

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Big Bethel AME Church
Auburn Avenue Northeast, Atlanta Old Fourth Ward

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N 33.7558 ° E -84.3805 °
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Big Bethel AME Church

Auburn Avenue Northeast 220
30303 Atlanta, Old Fourth Ward
Georgia, United States
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Big Bethel AME Church 1
Big Bethel AME Church 1
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Odd Fellows Building and Auditorium
Odd Fellows Building and Auditorium

The Odd Fellows Building and Auditorium, located at 228—250 Auburn Avenue, N.E. in the Sweet Auburn Historic District of Atlanta, Georgia, are historic buildings built in 1912 and 1913, respectively, as the headquarters of the District Grand Lodge No. 18, Jurisdiction of Georgia, of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. B.S. Ingram was District Grand Master and Dr. William F. Penn was chairman of the building committee. Renowned Atlanta-based architect William Augustus Edwards designed the buildings, while Robert E. Pharrow was the contractor and M.B. Morton was superintendent of construction. Booker T. Washington dedicated the Odd Fellows Building in 1912.The Odd Fellows Building and Auditorium are closely linked with Benjamin Jefferson Davis, Sr. (1870–1945), Atlanta's most influential black journalist, who edited the Atlanta Independent, the official organ of District No. 18. He was District Grand Secretary and a member of the Building Committee when they were built.The Odd Fellows Building, called the Tower, is six stories high while the Auditorium next door, called the Annex, is two stories with an atrium that adds another two or three stories in height. Both are built of redbrick except for the first floor of the Tower which is stone. The Annex was used for many years as a movie house and was the only major venue in Atlanta where blacks could be seated on the main floor. In addition to providing meeting and office space for the Odd Fellows, the Tower provided office and store space for black-owned businesses and black professionals. Its flat roof was used for dances for many years.On May 2, 1975, both buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places.