{"nrhp_refnum":"74001233","name":"Macedonia Baptist Church","other_names":["Michigan Street Baptist Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"511 Michigan Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.88622357200006,"lon":-78.86734251199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-02-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Politics/Government","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick church building at 511 Michigan Avenue in Buffalo, Erie County, New York, built in 1845 as the Michigan Street Baptist Church and now known as Macedonia Baptist Church.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church has been an activist institution since the Abolition Movement of the 1830s and 1840s and a central institution in Buffalo's Black community for about 125 years. It was led for 61 years by Rev. J. Edward Nash, who helped found the Buffalo Urban League and the local NAACP. Neighbor Mary B. Talbert hosted a national conference in 1905 that launched the Niagara Movement.","narrative":"Built in 1845 on the east side of Michigan Avenue in Buffalo, this red-painted brick church began as the Michigan Street Baptist Church. Its exterior is plain, with arched front windows, a dentilled brick trim and a stone plaque dated 1845. Inside is one large sanctuary with a raised altar, a semicircular apse ringed by six columns, and original pews. The congregation formed around 1837, during the rise of the Abolition Movement, and the church became the most prominent and enduring Black church in the city. Rev. J. Edward Nash served as pastor for 61 years and helped found the Buffalo Urban League and the local NAACP. Nearby, at Mary B. Talbert's house, delegates from eighteen states met in 1905 to form the Niagara Movement. The nomination presents the church as the center of Buffalo's Black community and its civil rights leadership.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as conspicuously well-tended and maintained, in good condition, occupied and in religious use, though altered by an added entrance; it sits in a decaying area long proposed to be cleared.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.761539-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/74001233.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001233/97551d63a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001233/97551d63a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Shinerunner (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macedonia_Baptist_Church_marker.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Shinerunner (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macedonia_Baptist_Church_marker.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317660","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Street_Baptist_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6723060"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/macedonia-baptist-church-74001233/"}