AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The current building of Mount Zion Baptist Church has been an anchor for the Black Community in Athens, Ohio since 1909; while the inception of the congregation dates back to 1872. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the church was in regular use through the 1990’s to the early 2000’s when attendance dwindled. Eventually the congregation disbanded, leaving the building vacant.

In 2013, a group of community members formed the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society (MZBCPS) with the mission of restoring the building to become a Black Cultural Center. Yet, unlike many sacred spaces that have been repurposed without ties to, or recognition of,  past use; this project actively involves its history with a keen eye to the future.

Core to the preservation of the building is current MZBCPS President, Ada-Woodson Adams, who attended the church as a child, is Baptist and was married in the church. Adams is a genealogist, local historian, community organizer and Civil Rights activist. An advocate for historical preservation by recounting oral histories of underrepresented people and places; Ada-Woodson’s involvement has been included in a video documentation series spearheaded by Trevellya “Tee” Ford-Ahmed, PhD.,  Director of Communications and Media of MZBCPS. 

Tee has actively woven Mt. Zion’s significance into current events, such as integrating the series into school curriculum at Ohio University. Highlighting the building preservation as a conduit for discourse about community inequities has drawn the attention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from which the MZBCPS has received a grant through the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

The grant thrust the efforts of the MZBCPS onto the national preservation stage not only as a recipient of funds; but as an example of how alternate efforts of advocacy can have success. Both Black women have been elevated through allyship by other members of the group - many who are newer to Athens and its history. MZBCPS exemplifies the power of acknowledging primary sources and voices, rather than deferring to parties disconnected to people and place to speak on behalf of a “disenfranchised” group. 

One of the first active conservation projects was a detailed survey of the historic stained glass windows conducted by stained glass conservator (and FAIC Fellow) Ariana Makau, principal conservator of Oakland, California based Nzilani Glass Conservation, (NGC). When it became time for the removal of the windows from the building in order to preserve them while other building elements were addressed, Makau paired with Lindsay Jones, owner and architectural preservation specialist of Blind Eye Restoration and BER’s team, based in Columbus, Ohio. 

The collaboration was more than the sum of its parts with insights shared freely on unusual window sash fabrication and installation (BER), health and safety considerations specific to leaded art glass treatment and removal (NGC) plus ongoing historic context shared by members of the MZBCPS throughout the process. This talk will cover the process of that collaboration, during that phase as well as the ongoing relationship, with highlights of our lessons learned and successes along the way.