{"nrhp_refnum":"97000954","name":"St. Paul AME Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"316 E. Market St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Urbana","county":"Champaign County","state":"OH","lat":40.128170270000055,"lon":-82.56518661999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-09-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Religion","Black","Ethnic Heritage","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Paul A.M.E. Church is a two-and-a-half-story brick church at 316 East Market Street in Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio, with a cornerstone date of 1866 and completion in 1876. It stands on the site where an African Methodist Episcopal congregation was organized in 1824.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion A for its long role as the spiritual, social and cultural center of Champaign County's African-American community. Under Criterion B it is tied to Benjamin W. Arnett, its first pastor, and under Criterion C it represents a church plan with southern antecedents (raised basement, vestibule, second-floor auditorium). It is described as the largest and best preserved of the county's six historic 19th-century African-American churches.","narrative":"St. Paul A.M.E. Church is a two-and-a-half-story brick building at 316 East Market Street in Urbana, Ohio. It is a vernacular version of Greek Revival design, with a front-facing gable, cornice returns and symmetrical windows. Stucco was applied to the brick in 1922. A marble block on the front reads 1866, though the building was not completed until 1876. Inside, two curved walnut staircases lead to a second-floor sanctuary with stained glass windows, original pews and a mural of Christ ascending, painted in the late 1940s or early 1950s by local artist Alice Archer Sewall-James. The congregation was organized in 1824 on the same site, among the first A.M.E. groups in western Ohio. Its first pastor in the new building was Benjamin W. Arnett, a nationally known church leader. The church is listed for its place in Urbana's African-American community, its Arnett connection, and its raised-basement, upper-floor sanctuary plan, which has southern antecedents.","period_of_significance":"1876-1947","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century/Greek Revival, Vernacular","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a church and meeting hall; the form lists current functions as church and social meeting hall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.130761-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/97000954.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000954/8c0dc7ebee-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000954/8c0dc7ebee-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Paul_AME_Church,_Urbana.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Paul_AME_Church,_Urbana.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987032","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul%27s_African_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_(Urbana,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591017"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/champaign-county/st-paul-ame-church-97000954/"}