Wallace Chapel AME Zion Church

Wallace Chapel AME Zion Church
Front elevation, 2008
Basic information
Location	Summit, NJ
Geographic coordinates	40°42′49″N 74°20′36″W
Affiliation	African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Architectural description
Direction of façade	West
Groundbreaking	1936
Completed	1937
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Added to NRHP:	2007
NRHP Reference#:	07000877

Wallace Chapel AME Zion Church is located at the intersection of Broad and Orchard streets in Summit, New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1937, the first black church in that city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The congregation was first established in 1923, and met at the local YMCA. Two years later, The Rev. Florence Spearing Randolph, a former suffragette and activist, was appointed temporary pastor. In 1928 the church acquired its first building, a small house on the church's current site with enough space on the first floor to seat a hundred people at services.

Randolph's temporary pastorship became more permanent, and the church grew. In 1936 the house was razed for the construction of the current building, which was completed and opened to parishioners the following year. Randolph continued as pastor until her retirement in 1946.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Union County, New Jersey