National Historic Landmark · Collegeville, Alabama

Bethel Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Guardhouse

Historic church in Alabama, United States in Collegeville, Alabama. Added to the National Register in 2005, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visitNational Historic LandmarkListed 2005
'Cloudy With a Chance of Love...' -- Bethel Baptist Church Collegeville 3200 28th Avenue North Birmingham (AL) February 2019 (47691654072)Bethel Baptist Church, 3233 Twenty-ninth Avenue, North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL HABS ALA,37-BIRM,26- (sheet 1 of 3)Bethel Baptist Church, 3233 Twenty-ninth Avenue, North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL HABS ALA,37-BIRM,26- (sheet 2 of 3)Bethel Baptist Church, 3233 Twenty-ninth Avenue, North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL HABS ALA,37-BIRM,26- (sheet 3 of 3)
Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 5 in the Commons category

What it is

Wikipedia · Bethel Baptist Church (Birmingham, Alabama)

Bethel Baptist Church is a Baptist church in the Collegeville neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The church served as headquarters from 1956 to 1961 for the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), which was led by Fred Shuttlesworth and active in the Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement. The ACMHR focused on legal and nonviolent direct action against segregated accommodations, transportation, schools and employment discrimination. It played a crucial role in the 1961 Freedom Rides that resulted in federal enforcement of U.S. Supreme Court and Interstate Commerce Commission rulings to desegregate public transportation.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

National Register of Historic Places
Property typeBuilding
Address3233, 3232, and 3236 29th Avenue North, Collegeville, AL
CountyJefferson County
ListedApr 5, 2005
Reference number05000455
Type of placeProtestant church building
DesignationsNational Historic Landmark, listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
Contributing resources3 buildings
StandingYes

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Open to the public
Address3233, 3232, and 3236 29th Avenue North, Collegeville, AL
Websitethehistoricbethel.org ↗
Coordinates33.55177, -86.80073 · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unitBirmingham Civil Rights National Monument · 3 mi · on Park Atlas
Federal campgrounds nearbyBurchfield Branch Park 34 mi
This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

Explore

Why you would stay

Map

4 nearby listings

Reference

Exists because it is true

Sources

Location, dates, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 05000455. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.