{"nrhp_refnum":"79002167","name":"Bethel A.M.E. Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"119 N. 10th St","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.337491655000065,"lon":-75.91770130699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story brick and stucco African Methodist Episcopal church at 119 North Tenth Street in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, with a three-story brick tower and pyramidal roof. The building dates to 1837 and was rebuilt in c. 1867-69 and remodeled in 1889.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church was built with the private resources of its congregation and is the only black church in Berks County built this way, one of only three black churches known from the county. It is presented as a pioneering effort of the AME movement in Pennsylvania, and its founders are credited with aiding fugitive slaves.","narrative":"Built in 1837 in Reading, this brick and stucco church has a gable roof and a three-story brick tower with a pyramidal roof. It was rebuilt in c. 1867-69 and remodeled in 1889, when the brick front facade was added. The congregation financed the building from its own resources, drawing on the efforts of four local men: Samuel Murray, a free black shoemaker who owned thirteen other properties and used them as collateral, became the first local pastor, while George Dillen, Jacob Ross and Isaac Parker also helped build it. The church is regarded as a pioneering effort of the African Methodist Episcopal movement in Pennsylvania, where black churches developed slowly outside cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Its resources were occasionally used to shelter fugitive slaves, and Jacob Ross, one of the founders, had escaped slavery in Virginia. The interior is plain, with one large room on each floor and a raised dais.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Samuel Murray, George Dillen, Jacob Ross, Isaac Parker","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Church records are to be preserved and the building is described as being planned for cultural and museum use, but no current condition is firmly stated beyond the altered/deteriorated checkbox.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.35487-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002167.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002167/366edc1c11-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002167/366edc1c11-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethel_AME_REading.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethel_AME_REading.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997962","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethel_AME_Church_(Reading,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4897840"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/bethel-a-m-e-church-79002167/"}