{"nrhp_refnum":"79000827","name":"Quinn Chapel of the A.M.E. Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2401 S. Wabash Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.84879351500007,"lon":-87.62511237099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Quinn Chapel of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is a rusticated graystone and brick church at 2401 South Wabash Avenue on Chicago's near south side. Built 1891-1892 with the interior finished in 1894, it is the home of Chicago's oldest black congregation.","why_significant":"The 1979 listing rests on the church's historical associations with the oldest black congregation in Chicago, founded in 1847, and its role in abolition and in social and humanitarian work. A later amendment places the church in a national context for its role in social progress movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, including anti-lynching protest, voting rights and women's suffrage.","narrative":"Quinn Chapel is a Latin-cross church of rusticated graystone and brick at 2401 South Wabash Avenue in Chicago. Built in 1891-1892, with the interior finished in 1894, it combines Romanesque massing with Gothic lancet windows and ornate portals. Two towers flank a gabled west front, and the sanctuary on the second floor holds original wooden pews, a 1904 resurrection mural and an organ shown at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The congregation traces to a prayer group formed in 1844 and organized as an African Methodist Episcopal church in 1847, making it the oldest black congregation in Chicago. Early members included ex-slaves, and the church took part in the abolition movement. Its members founded the Elam Home, Provident Hospital, the Wabash Avenue Y.M.C.A. and the Moseley Playground. Later documentation adds that figures such as Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells and Susan B. Anthony spoke there, and that the church hosted anti-lynching, voting rights and suffrage efforts.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Henry F. Starbuck (exterior) and Charles H. McAfee (interior)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Gothic, Romanesque (modified Romanesque with Gothic details)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in continuous use as a place of worship; described as well maintained and little altered, with original wood doors and windows surviving.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.739056-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/8924/28892400/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/79000827.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000827/6a4b0fb271-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000827/6a4b0fb271-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quinn_Chapel_of_the_A.M.E._Church_(10564193663).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quinn_Chapel_of_the_A.M.E._Church_(10564193663).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892400","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinn_Chapel_AME_Church_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7272261"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/quinn-chapel-of-the-a-m-e-church-79000827/"}