The NEW Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church

I still attend the church where I was raised. I was christened there at five months. My church has an great story - founded in 1850, some of the original members were slaves. One man, Elijah Ramsey, was able to earn his freedom and eventually purchased a log cabin, which he gave to the church. In the early days, Quinn Chapel shared its space with the Baptist church and with Lincoln University of Missouri. In the 1950s, the state took the church's property to build a highway and Quinn moved to a new location, in a part of town known as The Foot, the city's historically black neighborhood. Fifty years later, the state came looking again. The church members were determined to stay in the neighborhood, and managed to move just one block away and build another edifice. We've incorporated the old with the new and brought the steeple, the front doors and the stained glass windows to the new church. In June, The NEW Quinn Chapel began serving Jefferson City and added new services, such as community dinners which are open to anyone in need. What a story.