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African American Heritage Trail, Washington, DC
Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Church
1425 V Street, NW
St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church began in 1858 when African American congregants of the St. Matthew's Church departed to organize their own day school. The group raised funds -- even held an event on the White House lawn -- and eventually constructed a school and a chapel on 15th Street, north of L Street. Opening in 1866, the Blessed Martin de Porres School and Chapel soon became the center of a separate black parish, St. Augustine's. In 1961 the church merged with the predominantly white St. Paul's Church at this corner to form Saints Paul and Augustine Church. Twenty-one years later, the church returned to the name St. Augustine's. |