County of church: St. Louis County
Location of church: Harrison St & Monroe St., SW corner, Kirkwood
Built: 1896
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Pastor: Debbie Thornton
"Located on the southwest comer of Harrison and Monroe A venues in Kirkwood, a suburban community in
metropolitan St. Louis, the Olive Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a one story, end gabled, side
steepled, clapboard church building that faces east onto Harrison Avenue. It blends into a residential district
southwest of the historic Kirkwood central business district and south of the Amtrak and Union Pacific Railroad
track that bisects the community east to west. The area was much more rural when the church building was
erected, but the residential area developed around it in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Built in
the Gothic Revival style between 1896 and 1899, the frame building is approximately 31 by 60 feet in
dimension. It has clapboard walls, a steeply pitched roof, boxed cornices, lancet windows on each side with
delicate wood tracery and stained glass, as well as a large lancet window on the facade with a comer belfry that
forms the entry and steeple at the northeast comer. The church building is in very good condition on the exterior
with the original clapboard siding and wood shingle siding on the upper portion of the belfry and gable ends. It
currently has an asphalt composition shingle roof, but originally probably had a wood shingle roof. The original
bell tower, bell, stained glass windows and front doors still grace the building. Improvements include the small
addition on the rear for modem restrooms and the excavation and completion of the basement, neither of which
alter the appearance from either Harrison or Monroe Avenues. The interior of the sanctuary retains many of its
original features, including the pews, electric lights and ceiling fans (added in the early twentieth century),
although the congregation opted to reverse the pews in 1978 to face the large stained glass window on the front
of the church. Except for minor visual changes to accommodate modem conveniences and access to the
building, all at the rear of the building, this church building retains a high degree of historic integrity.
"Built between 1896 and 1899, the Olive Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 309 South
Harrison Avenue, Kirkwood, St. Louis County, Missouri, is locally significant under Criterion C: Architecture,
and under Criterion A: Ethnic Heritage-Black for its long association with Kirkwood's African-American
community. Begun in 1896 by Peter Bopp and other members of the Evangelische Friedens Gemeinde Lutheran
Congregation (which was also known as the Peace Congregation), the church was completed in 1899 and used it
for their meeting hall and for their services for the next twenty-four years. It was designed in the Gothic Revival
style, specifically the Carpenter Gothic style, which was especially popular for smaller churches, into the late
nineteenth century. It is noted for its simple side steeple form, clapboard walls, and lancet windows with wood
tracery and the original stained glass windows. In 1923, Peace Congregation sold the building to the Olive
Chapel A. M. E. Church. This became one of the most important locations in Kirkwood's African-American
community both as the new home of the Olive Chapel and as the meeting location for various community
organizations. The congregation already had a distinguished history in the pre-Civil War era in the effort to end
slavery and to form A. M. E. churches throughout the south. In its new home the Olive Chapel A. M. E. Church
continues to serve as a symbol of that struggle as well as postbellum agitation for civil and equal rights. The
congregation built upon this legacy in their new home serving as one of the few available meeting locations for
the various African-American organizations in Kirkwood, including youth groups, civic organizations and civil
rights groups, during the period prior to desegregation in Kirkwood. Because of its congregations longstanding
leadership and use of this building in promoting educational, economic, and civic equality for the local African American community, the Olive Chapel is exceptionally significant under Criterion Consideration G, with its
period of significance extending through 1968 as the year of the last major civil rights meeting at the church, a
spontaneous gathering converging on the chapel to mourn the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1896
Style/Design: Gothic Revival
This small church has beautiful old stained glass windows that have simple designs and colors and beautiful wood tracery. There are four bays of Gothic stained glass windows on each side, and the south side has a door at each end. The front of the church has a large Gothic stained glass window on the south and a two-story square tower on the north with the front door on the first floor, a Gothic opening with wooden louvers on the second floor and a steep, hip slate roof with a cross on top. Dentils are under the eaves of the tower roof. The shingle roof has three small gable openings for ventilation on each side. At the rear a l½ story cinderblock addition has a clapboarded gable.
"This church was built in 1896 by the Evangelische Gemeinde Lutheran congregation which was breaking away from the Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood. Pastor Volk cut short his ministry at Concordia to join the new congregation. The division ended in the early 1920's and most of the members rejoined Concordia. The Olive Chapel of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church purchased the building in 1923 and are still using it tcx1ay. The Olive Chapel of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in Kirkwood in 1853 by the Reverend Jordan Winston. It was served by a circuit rider for many years.
"The church sits on a small corner lot in a quiet neighborhood." ~ Kirkwood Historic Survey PDF pages 48-50