{"nrhp_refnum":"82003407","name":"St. James AME Zion Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"116--118 Cleveland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ithaca","county":"Tompkins County","state":"NY","lat":42.437788417000036,"lon":-76.50457273899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-07-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A modest two-story wood-frame church on a high stone foundation at 116-118 Cleveland Avenue, Ithaca, New York, begun about 1836 and expanded many times since. It has a four-story entrance tower at the southeast corner.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church played a central role in Ithaca's black community, especially during mid-nineteenth-century anti-slavery activity, when it served as an Underground Railroad station. Built in 1836, it is believed to be Ithaca's oldest church and one of the oldest in the AME Zion system. It also illustrates the additive method of construction common among poor congregations.","narrative":"St. James AME Zion Church at 116-118 Cleveland Avenue in Ithaca began about 1836 as a single room of fieldstone and has been enlarged repeatedly. A clapboard second story was added around 1861, followed by a vestibule and belfry tower, a rear addition, an eastward expansion in 1913, and a rose window in 1945. The original stone walls and a paneled door remain visible at the foundation. The congregation traces its roots to 1825 and was chartered as an AME Zion church in 1833. Its pastors included Thomas James and Jermain Loguen, and Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass are recorded as visitors. The church was an Underground Railroad station and later a secular meeting place for the city's south side. In 1913 seven Cornell students founded Alpha Phi Alpha in its basement. Believed to be Ithaca's oldest church building, it shows how poor congregations grew their buildings in stages. It was restored on the exterior in 1981.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Simple vernacular building","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in religious use; the exterior was restored in 1981 with a community development grant, and the condition is listed as fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:43.097891-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82003407.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003407/87c7ad2bbf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003407/87c7ad2bbf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"renatoppl","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St-_James_AME_Zion_Church_2012-09-22_16-38-04.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">renatoppl</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:St-_James_AME_Zion_Church_2012-09-22_16-38-04.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322524","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_AME_Zion_Church_(Ithaca,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588427"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tompkins-county/st-james-ame-zion-church-82003407/"}