Mother Trinity CME
The Augusta Canal Authority (ACA) hired LPC to complete their application for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Preserving Black Churches Grant. Mother Trinity CME is significant at the state and local level as home to one of the South’s earliest African-American congregations established prior to emancipation. Rooted in the independence sought by the city’s African-American Methodists, Trinity CME was integral to the founding of the Colored (later Christian) Methodist Episcopal denomination and is the embodiment of the tenacity of Augusta’s free and enslaved. Predating the establishment of the CME denomination, the formation of the Trinity congregation before the Civil War is unique. Worshiping separately under the leadership of St. John’s ME Church by 1840, the congregation’s earliest church edifice for colored members was built circa 1843. The extant church was dedicated in 1848. The congregation was able to purchase the freedom of their first African-American pastor in 1850. The church has national significance as the “mother church” of the CME denomination, which formed in 1870. The first church of the denomination, ownership of the church was transferred from the Trustees of St. John’s ME Church to the Trinity CME Church Trustees in 1874.
Throughout its history, Mother Trinity has undergone several architectural modifications, in 1870 the apse was added, in 1894 two corner towers were added it its edifice and its organ was installed, in 1924 a one story addition was added to it’s rear, and during the late 1920s through to the 1960s a full width two-story rear addition was added, restrooms were added to the northwest corner of the church. Mother Trinity was originally located at the northeast corner of the Taylor and Eighth Streets, however in 2018 the building was moved across Taylor Street. The move was due to ground remediation efforts by Atlanta Gas Light. In 1852, Atlanta Gas Light built a coal gasification plant across from Mother Trinity and by 2016, 64,000 tons of contaminated soil had been removed and 82,500 additional tons of soil had been treated in the area of the former gas plant. In order to remediate contaminated soil on the property of Mother Trinity, the company wished to demolish the building but in March 2018 the ACA obtained a quit claim deed for the building and with the help of Hercules House Movers, had the church relocated.
In 2019, Lominack Kolman Smith Architects (LKSA) completed a Historic Structure Report for the building. Unfortunately the condition of Mother Trinity has significantly worsened since this assessment and ACA is seeking the full grant amount for the purpose of completing urgent restoration and stabilization projects for Mother Trinity CME. Due to significant water damage, the first priority is getting a new asphalt shingle roof put on, as well as repairs to the roof framing and decking. LPC completed and submitted the grant application in August and it will be reviewed between September - December.
