Originally named the First Colored Baptist Church, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was founded in 1873. The first church building was at the intersection of 12th Street North and 4th Avenue. The congregation moved to its current location in 1880.
This is the second building at this location. The City of Birmingham condemned the first building, so the church leaders turned to Alabama’s only Black architect, Wallace Rayfield, to design the current building. T.C. Windham, a Black contractor from Birmingham, managed the church’s building. The church was completed in 1911 with Romanesque and Byzantine elements.
Based on its location in Birmingham, the church became a centerpiece of the Civil Rights Movement. The church hosted lecturers and became a gathering place for meetings and rallies. Unfortunately, the church became a target of white supremacists on Sunday, September 15, 1963, when a bomb went off at 10:22 AM. The bomb killed 4 girls and injured more than 20 others. Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair lost their lives that day. It took years to bring the perpetrators to justice. Three out of the four were convicted.
If you were a fan of S-Town, you likely wondered about the final resting place for John B. McElmore. I visited a few years ago and was impressed with the handmade headstone. I believe this was made by Tyler Goodson. He rests in the cemetery behind Green Pond Presbyterian Church in Bibb County.
Sisters Margaret and Jane LeBlanc are memorialized in a monument that was erected by the grandmother,Jane Stewart LeBlanc. Margaret died at the age of 18 months in 1919. Jane passed away at the age of four in 1918. Families often dealt with the loss of their children due to diseases that modern healthcare can now manage.
Cherubs represent innocence and are a common symbol seen on Victorian gravesites of children.
Both monuments stand next to each other, saying, “Erected by their mother.” Their mother, Susan, passed away in 1876. The poignant angel weeks and the clocks, with their hands inching towards midnight, illustrate Victorian iconography.
These monuments are in the Church Street Graveyard in Mobile, Alabama. While a small cemetery, many interesting monuments are contained within its walls.
Church Street Graveyard is a four-acre cemetery located in downtown Mobile. It was founded in 1819. It was closed to burials in 1898.
