Existing comment:
African American Heritage Trail, Washington, DC
Vermont Avenue Baptist Church
1630 Vermont Avenue, NW
Vermont Avenue Baptist Church was formed in 1866 by seven formerly enslaved men and women meeting in the home of John and Amy Slaughter. They joined the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church for assistance in organizing their own church. Then, led by Rev. John Henry Brooks, a former Union Army wagon driver, the group acquired this site and built a small wooden structure that they named Fifth Baptist Church. They later replaced it with a brick building (now the main sanctuary), laying the cornerstone in 1872. Under Rev. Brooks' successor, Rev. George Wellington Lee (1885-1911), the growing congregation added the current façade and steeple, and adopted the current name in 1890. |