Washington Chapel C.M.E. Church
Parkville, Missouri
Platte County
Update 1/16/2024: The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced that Washington Chapel CME Church was one of 31 recipients selected to receive grant funds from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund! See announcement here.
Message from Washington Chapel CME Regarding Grant Award 1/16/24
$4 Million Awarded to Help Protect 31 Historic Black Churches (of 550 applicants) across the country.
Today, on the MLK holiday, we of Washington Chapel CME Church, are proud to announce that the Church has received $160,000 (of $200,000 requested) from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This funding will support about a third of the needed repairs to the Church, including an ADA compliant bathroom. It will provide momentum in the effort of many of our allies to preserve this historic Parkville landmark. To stay abreast of our work, please join the Washington Chapel Preservation group on Facebook.
Since 2017, the Action Fund has raised more than $91 million in philanthropic funding, and serves as the largest U.S. resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places. The competition is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. to help historic Black churches and congregations reimagine, redesign, and deploy historic preservation to protect the cultural assets and legacies they steward, tell their stories of resiliency and hope. Black Churches are encouraged to apply. In this current competition, there were 550 applicants—only 31 grants were awarded.
“Thank you to all our community partners and friends who have spiritually and emotional supported us these last years. We will need you now more than ever to spread the word about our additional financial restoration needs. It has been estimated by contractors that a total of $650,000 will need to be raised to completely restore the Church,” said Barbara Luetke, one of the Church members.
Said Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, “We created the Preserving Black Churches program to ensure the historic Black church’s legacy is told and secured. And that these cultural assets can continue to foster community resilience and drive meaningful change in our society. We couldn’t be more excited to honor our grantees and ensure that African Americans – and our entire nation – can enjoy an empowered future built on the inspiring foundations of our past.”
Said Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., historian and advisor to the Action Fund. “Black churches have been at the forefront of meaningful democratic reform since this nation’s founding. They’re a living testament to the resilience of our ancestors in the face of unimaginably daunting challenges. The heart of our spiritual world is the Black church. These places of worship, these sacred cultural centers, must exist for future generations to understand who we were as a people.”
Washington Chapel Church, built in 1907 in the once segregated section of Parkville, has been a long-time community asset–always opening its doors as a free space for weddings and meetings. Many of Parkville remember how they were welcomed at the annual Easter Breakfast, Fish Fry, Homecoming Bazaar, and Thanksgiving Dinner. As your neighbors, we have provided cross-cultural exchanges to foster mutual enrichment with the African American leaders and culture of our region. Helping to preserve Washington Chapel is a chance for everyone in the larger community, state, and country to publicly commit to recognizing and investing in the preservation of this historical landmark. The remaining members of Washington Chapel are few and elderly. We need you all as we move forward in our work to make Washington Chapel useable again.
Join us to honor and protect the legacy of Washington Chapel, as the epicenter of our Black community and heritage, so that this history can be stewarded, interpreted, and restored.
Donations can be mailed to Washington Chapel CME Church, 1137 West St. Parkville, MO. 64152.
Questions? Barb Luetke bluetke@ymail.com
Washington Chapel C.M.E. Church at 1137 West Street in Parkville, Missouri was dedicated on the 29th of June, 1907 and boasted a congregation of eighty members, many of whom were prominent leaders in the Black community. The construction of the church was supervised by Charles Patrick Breen, the Superintendent of Buildings at nearby Park College. It was built with native limestone, a material Breen used frequently, and designed in the Late Gothic Revival Style. Members of the Board of Trustees at the College took a great interest in Parkville’s Black community and many of those who worked at the college were deeded land; there were even plans to construct a “Negro Annex” at the school. While the plans for the annex never came to fruition, it was that goal that spurred the construction of Washington Chapel on the land that had been set aside. The congregation of this “Colored Methodist Episcopal Church” (now known as the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church) in Parkville is said to be the second of the denomination in Missouri and had been meeting as early as 1870. Efforts to construct their own church building began as early as 1886. Washington Chapel C.M.E. Church served as a spiritual, social and visual focal point of Parkville’s Black community well into the late 1990s. However, congregant numbers dwindled as many Black families migrated to urban centers to escape discrimination and segregation in Parkville. The small, aging congregation has difficulty completing building maintenance on their own and also struggles to raise funds for outside labor. The roof needs repairs to stop continual water damage, the restrooms are currently non-functional nor ADA compliant, and vandals have recently damaged the structure. It is hoped that listing Washington Chapel C.M.E. Church as a Place in Peril will raise awareness for the plight of this significant piece of Parkville’s Black history, help raise funds for their capital campaign, and garner attention of potential volunteers and preservation professionals who can assist with the preservation of this historic landmark. Donations can be made to Washington Chapel CME Church at 1137 West Street, Parkville, MO 64152.
