{"nrhp_refnum":"97001195","name":"Campbell Chapel AME Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"429 N. Jackson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Americus","county":"Sumter County","state":"GA","lat":32.07723740300003,"lon":-84.23364326499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-09-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red-brick Romanesque Revival church at 429 N. Jackson St. in Americus, Sumter County, Georgia, built in 1920 for an African-American Methodist congregation and designed by architect Louis H. Persley.","why_significant":"The church is significant in architecture as a good example of Romanesque Revival design built as late as 1920 and as an early work of Louis H. Persley, the first African-American registered as an architect in Georgia. It is significant in African-American ethnic heritage as the headquarters of a congregation funded largely by laborers and domestic workers, with some support from the white community. It has been a major landmark in Americus's Black community and a venue for church, political and community events.","narrative":"Campbell Chapel AME Church is a two-story red-brick Romanesque Revival building at the corner of Jackson and Wild Streets in Americus, Georgia. Completed in 1920, it has a gabled roof, round-headed stained glass windows, a rose window, a brick belfry and a Latin cross plan, with the sanctuary on the second floor and a large U-shaped balcony. The architect was Louis H. Persley, a Macon native and the first African-American registered as an architect in Georgia. The church also reflects the determination of its congregation. Founded in 1869, the group bought the present site in 1877 and replaced its earlier frame church with this building, paid for largely by laborers, domestic workers and sharecroppers earning as little as fifty cents a day, with additional gifts from white residents. The church hosted notable speakers and the play Heaven Bound in 1931, and from 1958 to 1970 it opened its doors for county high school graduations after the Black high school burned. It remains in use for worship.","period_of_significance":"1920-1947","architect_builder":"Persley, Louis Hudson (1890-1932)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Romanesque Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a religious facility; the form says the church has operated continuously since 1920 and has had only minor changes, such as a nursery wall in the sanctuary and louvers in the belfry.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.719105-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/97001195.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001195/4605bad177-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001195/4605bad177-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Michael Rivera","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Campbell_Chapel_AME_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Rivera</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Campbell_Chapel_AME_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209518","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_Chapel_A.M.E._Church_(Americus,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134457817"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/sumter-county/campbell-chapel-ame-church-97001195/"}