Olivet Baptist Church ~ Bryn Mawr Historic District [Edgewater Presbyterian Church]

Olivet Baptist Church..
Address: 3101 S King Dr, Chicago, IL 60616 ..

The Encyclopedia of Chicago [click here].. informs that ..
Olivet Baptist Church is the oldest African American Baptist church in Chicago. It was organized first as Xenia Baptist Church on April 6, 1850, then became Zoar Baptist Church when it was formally incorporated three years later. Under the direction of the church's fifth pastor, Jesse F. Boulden, the church united with another black Baptist congregation and was named Olivet Baptist Church in 1861.

Olivet Baptist Church played a major role in the Great Migration [1910-1930].. Olivet stimulated the migration with the promise of jobs and housing. The congregation grew to an enormous size, estimated at approximately 10,000 in the 1920s, when it was hailed as “the largest Protestant church in the world.”

Another church of great importance in the African-American history is the Quinn Chapel AME Church.. click here