The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church near Burlington has received a $12,450 matching grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation, the Ironton Tribune recently reported.
Macedonia Missionary Baptist, established in 1849, is Ohio’s first Black church and the only surviving antebellum Black church in the state, the article states.
You can read the Tribune article here.
The church building was a part of the 2020 and 2021 lists of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites.The 2020 listing narrative read as follows:
“The Macedonia Church is a one-story wood frame building of approximately 20 feet by 30 feet. Centered on the front facade is a two story bell tower. Rectangular windows, three on each side, once graced the building. The interior features wooden box pews and a pressed tin ceiling. The church sits atop Macedonia Ridge north of Burlington, Ohio, an abolitionist sanctuary since 1799. Macedonia was “mother church” to several congregations in Ohio, and following Emancipation also in Kentucky and West Virginia. The church is in a declining state of disrepair having sat empty for the last 30 years.:
The Jeffris Family Foundation supports the development of important historic preservation projects in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Ohio=funded projects have included work at the Harding Home in Marion; the Louis Sullivan-designed bank building in downtown Newark; and the Holland Theatre in Bellefontaine.
