An historic Black church in Springfield is open again – but this time it’s as a place for education and keeping history alive. The former Benton Avenue African Methodist Episcopal church building is now called the Benton Avenue Educational Center.
Drury University just completed a major renovation of the building and held a ribbon cutting for the 1926 building Friday afternoon. While the building was constructed in 1926, the church dates back much further. It was organized in 1872.
The church formally closed on July 1, 2014. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Reverend Oliver Brown, the lead plaintiff in the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, pastored the church from 1959 to 1961…