The foundation of Grace Baptist Church, was laid in the City of Mount Vernon, New York in 1888. Grace was built by “five Negro women” as the church history describes them. They organized a Baptist church mission dedicated to caring for the spiritual needs of the then small African American community of Mount Vernon, but also to their education as well. A Sunday School for people of all ages was established shortly after the Grace Baptist Mission was organized. With the help of the white congregation of the First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, the Grace Baptist Mission bought a plot of land and built its first church in 1891. Two years later, they elected its first pastor, the Reverend J.L. Montague. A more permanent chapel was built in 1894. The newly constructed chapel could fit almost 400 people. Grace Baptist Church flourished through two World Wars, and the Great Depression. Unfortunately, on January 15, 1939 the small wood frame building was gutted by fire. By the summer of 1939 the congregation purchased the imposing, red brick structure of the former First Presbyterian Church, one of the largest church buildings in Westchester County. The church had a seating capacity of 900, a large kitchen and dining room. The Civil Rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King preached from its pulpit on 1959.
52 S 6th Ave, Mt Vernon, NY 10550, Phone: 914-664-2676