An Albany community is recovering and looking to the future, months after the loss of their church.
A snow-covered pile of brick rubble and broken wooden beams is all that remains of what was once a historic Black church in Albany’s South End. Elijah Missionary Baptist Church was damaged in November after a fire caused by a space heater tore through the roof and ordered demolished shortly thereafter after inspection showed the flames had gone up the bell tower, making it unsafe.
Founded as Our Lady Help of Christians for the South End’s German Catholic community, the church on Second Ave had been a community anchor since the cornerstone was laid in June of 1880. Even after then-Roman Catholic Bishop of Albany Howard Hubbard closed the space in 2002, the church earned new life as Elijah Missionary Baptist Church under Bishop Avery Comithier…