The Bethel AME Church is located on the corner of East Olympia Avenue and Wood Street. The current building was constructed in 1963, however, the Bethel AME Church has been providing services since 1888.
The Bethel AME Church is one of the two oldest African American Methodist Churches in Punta Gorda. A cornerstone located on the front of the building indicates the date of the construction of the church building as 1963. Above the cornerstone is an older cornerstone from the original building dated 1904.
On the west side of the entrance to the church is the bell from the 1904 church. The current church building survived Hurricane Charlie in 2004 and has since survived Hurricane Ian in 2022. A campaign to raise funds to repair damages sustained from Hurricane Ian is underway.
A brief history of the church by Lindsey Williams Writer at Large (
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February 12, l994
History Of Bethel African American Episcopal Church
Charlotte County's two oldest African-American churches owe a great deal to the piety of Daniel C. Smith --- a member of the survey crew that laid down the right-of-way to Punta Gorda for the Florida Southern Railway in 1886.
Albert Gilchrist of Georgia, later Governor of Florida, was the supervising engineer of the all-black survey crew. It appears that he and his crew threw in their lot together to give up their railroad jobs to participate in expected growth of the new town.
Shortly after the first passenger train arrived in July, Dan Smith erected a palm-thatched open-sided "brush arbor" for the first religious service. It was not until the following year that Col. Isaac Trabue constructed a community hall for inter-denominational church services by white folks.
In addition to Dan Smith, six other members of Gilchrist's crew stayed on at Punta Gorda. We know the names of four: Sam Kenedy, Graham, Fuller and Ransom. The names of two others are unknown but probably were among other African-Americans living in the little settlement in 1886: Isaac Howard and wife, Columbus and A.G. Reese, S.P. Andrews, Lynn and Rhoda Jackson, and Henry Simmons.
That first service consisted of a prayer meeting by the Howard, Reese and Jackson families, and bachelors Smith and Simmons. Several whites attended. We do not know their names for sure, but they undoubtedly include some of the first settlers known to be friendly with the "colored" population. They would be Gilchrist, Col. and Mrs. Trabue, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Wotitzky, Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Goldstein, and Mr. and Mrs. James L. Sandlin. The black community continued to meet informally in the rustic arbor until the arrival of a remarkable African-American minister named Robert Meacham in early 1888.
Meacham was born before the civil war to a slave mother and her white master, State Senator Banks Meacham. The Gadsden County plantation owner readily acknowledged his mulatto son and saw that he was well educated.
After the War Between the States, Robert Meacham became active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was ordained in 1866. When Congress in 1877 enfranchised black males 21 years of age, Robert easily won a Florida Senate seat from the heavily black Jefferson County. He became an influential Reconstruction politician until the Democrats regained total control of the re-districting machinery. Meacham tried in 1879 to overcome gerrymandering by running for U.S. House of Representatives. He was soundly defeated.
At the same time, Meacham was deprived of his pastorship on trumped up charges of insobriety. He was reduced to carrying messages for an old, political friend until 1887. At that time the A.M.E. conference hired him to organize churches at Key West, Punta Gorda and Fort Myers.
The Key West mission was successful, and Meacham arrived at Punta Gorda in early 1888. There he made friends with Dan Smith and Col. Trabue, a staunch Republican. According to a March 1889 deed, Col. and Mrs. Trabue gave a 40x85-foot lot on the south side of Hellen Avenue, 80 feet east of Milot (now Milus) street, to the newly organized African Methodist Episcopal Church. Trabue accepted $1 as a legally binding sale price, but specified: "Said lot is to be used for church purposes. If ever said lot is sold by said trustees or church, said lot is to revert to this donor or grantor." Witness to the transaction was "M.T.B. Thomas," the first pastor; and James Sandlin. Trustee for the church was Dan Smith.
Lumber was procured from Nocatee and paid for by Jacob Wotitzky. Smith and other members of the congregation built the sanctuary.
Meacham moved on to Fort Myers in November of 1889 and organized an A.M.E. church there. The Fort Myers News reported, "Rev. Meacham, formerly of Punta Gorda, is the colored minister of the A.M.E. Church here. He has started a project for the erection of a church for his people."
Unfortunately some disagreement between him and the congregation developed. Six months later, the News said Meacham had "quit the church." The estrangement seems to have been permanent.
With election of Benjamin Harrison as Republican president in 1890, Col. Trabue was given the privilege of nominating the postmaster for Punta Gorda. He chose Robert Meacham.
White Punta Gordans protested the appointment at an "indignation meeting" in February of that year, but Meacham overcame opposition with tact and dignity. Nevertheless, Meacham gave up the post in March 1892. He certainly attended Bethel Church during this period.
It is interesting to note that also in 1892, "the A.M.E. church at Cleveland" bought a lot there. Trustees were George Brown, a prominent ship builder; H.R. Samuel and William S. Thompson. However, no African-American church was ever built there.
The following year, a "colored Baptist" church was organized at Punta Gorda and was invited by Bethel A.M.E. to share the latter's sanctuary --- as we shall discuss next week.
Shortly thereafter, Rev. Thomas was transferred to Mt. Olive A.M.E. at Fort Myers. Because of the Methodist policy of frequent rotation of ministers, a complete list of Bethel pastors is not known.
Bethel gave up its Hellen Avenue property in June 1897 and bought from S.P. Andrews by mortgage Lot 8 of Block 35 on the northwest corner of Olympia and Wood streets, its present location.
A lumberman named A.J. Pexa of Charlotte Harbor Town filed a lien against Bethel on July 31, 1897, for a balance of $121.65 due on materials purchased July 1. He stated, "Bethel A.M.E. Church Society have built a church or house of prayer of said lumber on said lot." The lien and mortgage were quickly secured by promissory note of $340. The mortgage was paid off in April of 1900.
The Bethel pastor in 1900, according to the Census, was Rev. James Johnson, age 34, and wife Maria, "living in the parsonage." The Rev. G.W. Vaughns, pastor of Bethel A.M.E., died after a short illness November 9, 1902, and was "buried the following day" according to the Punta Gorda Herald. The place of interment is unknown, but likely was at the Carl Bailey Cemetery of Cleveland.
Said the Herald:
"A great concourse of colored people attended the funeral services. The dead preacher leaves a wife, but no children. He came here from the upper part of the State, and was regarded as a man of genuine piety, an exemplary teacher of his race by whom his demise is sincerely deplored"
The 1910 Census lists three "black" Methodist ministers. Two widowers were Rev. A.S. Jordan, 55; and Rev. M. Austin, 45, lodging with Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin and Nancy Anderson. The younger man probably was assistant pastor.
Rev. T.W. Saunders (Sanders) is listed as "minister, Methodist, 48, and wife Silvia, 50."
The Herald reported in March 1918: "The conference of Central Florida A.M.E., sitting at Apopka this week, assigned W.W. Hamilton to the church at Punta Gorda." Bethel purchased Lot 7 of Block 35 from the estate of James L. Sandlin for $100 for a parsonage in December 1921. The frame sanctuary next door was severely damaged by Hurricane Donna in 1960, and the present sanctuary was built in 1962 to replace it. The building drive occurred during the administration of The Rev. J.A. Proctor and was spearheaded by Sister Louise Sinclair.
The pastor in 1992 was The Rev. Joe L. Ivey. The present pastor of Bethel is The Rev. Ronald Fortune.
By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers