“When the United States entered World War I, the country braced for impact. But Black Americans who still worked in the fields in the South saw an open door. With the country’s white men off to fight in the war, the non-agricultural industries of the North were desperate for workers. Once again, Black labor helped move the country forward.
“More than 50 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, with their freedom in hand, Black migrants flocked to cities in the North to seek financial opportunities and escape the relentless grip of Jim Crow.
“Heeding the clarion call from the Chicago Defender, the African American newspaper that painted a picture of prosperity up North, tens of thousands of Black migrants came to Chicago during the first wave of the Great Migration.
“Olivet Baptist Church, founded in 1850, is Chicago’s second-oldest Black church, after Quinn Chapel AME. During the abolition movement, Olivet helped enslaved people inch closer to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
“When Lacy Kirk Williams became pastor in 1916, he ushered the church to look beyond its limestone walls and stained-glass windows. The church started to think about community-minded ministry.
“Olivet evolved into a quasi-social services organization. When Black migrants arrived, the church directed them toward housing
“John L. Smith, Olivet’s current pastor, has a vision for Olivet Baptist Church to boldly serve the community once more. Trinity Square is a planned $157 million development that would include 366 units of affordable housing, a day care center, food pantry, workforce development incubator and a clinic. It would be located on the corner plot the church owns. The project is in the predevelopment phase and seeking seed funding to break ground.
“Today, Bronzeville is ripe with opportunity and interest from developers seeking to rebuild the area. As in its heyday, Smith said, Olivet is embracing its community-minded ministry and making decisions based on the needs of the community. And the church is using the land it owns to do that. (Johnson, Chicago Sun-Times, 4/3/26)
Olivet Baptist Church is a Preservation Chicago 2025 Chicago 7 Most Endangered. Due to a dwindling congregations, the large main church has not been actively used for an extensive period. Despite its storied history and architectural pedigree, the property is not formally recognized as a historic landmark by either the City of Chicago or National Park Service. A sensitive, but pragmatic, rehabilitation would bring the church back to its full operation and allow this Chicago institution to remain standing. We support restoring and incorporating the historic church building into a new development that would bring housing, vibrancy and resources to the community.
Olivet Baptist Church is the oldest extant African American Baptist church building, and the second oldest African American church congregation, in the city of Chicago. Located in the Bronzeville/Douglas neighborhood and near the Lake Meadows housing development, Olivet has a legacy of prominent Black leadership stretching back to the 19th century.
Many of the congregation’s pastors have been influential at various political levels, including during the National Baptist Convention and the 20th century Civil Rights Movement. During the Chicago Race Riots of 1919, the church fought to maintain peace, and later served as a community center during the 1920s, as the Great Migration brought an influx of African Americans from the South, to many northern cities, including Chicago.
In 1918, Olivet Baptist Church purchased the Gothic Revival church at 3101 S. King Drive. It was originally built for First Baptist Church of Chicago in 1876 by the early Chicago architecture firm Wilcox and Miller. Following the death in 1990 of Joseph H. Jackson, who served as pastor for nearly fifty years, the church struggled to maintain its stature in Chicago’s African American community. In recent decades, the number of parishioners has declined significantly and portions of the church are effectively closed due to deferred maintenance.