The Central Woodward Christian Church, now known as Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church, is a Gothic Revival church located in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1993. Originally home of Central Woodward Christian Church, a Metro-Detroit congregation affiliated with the Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ), it was sold to Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church when the original congregation relocated to

Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. Its population was 87,294 at the 2020 U.S. census, making Troy the most populous city in the county and the 13th most-populous municipality in the state. Troy is a northern suburb of Me ...

Building

The church is built in a classic Gothic Revival style from

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

, and has a slate roof, copper trim, and stained glass windows.Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church
from the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department The stained glass windows are a distinguishing feature of the building. Some were installed by the original Disciples of Christ congregation. A. Kay Herbert designed two windows, one window depicting

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

and the other showing

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

holding the Emancipation Proclamation. In the 1990s, the Little Rock congregation began installing more windows to replace the previous clear glass ones. Perhaps the best known of these windows is the African American Pulpit window depicting the Reverend Richard Allen, the founder of the African-Methodist-Episcopal church, Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend

C. L. Franklin Clarence LaVaughn Franklin (Birth name, ''né'' Walker; January 22, 1915 – July 27, 1984) was an American Baptist Churches USA, American Baptist Minister (Christianity), minister and civil rights, civil rights activist. Known as the man with t ...

, and Reverend James Holley, pastor of the Little Rock congregation.

History of the church

The Disciples of Christ came to Detroit in 1846, as a church was founded by Reverend William Nay. By the 1890s, the congregation had grown enough to construct a large church in downtown Detroit.Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church/ Central Woodward Christian Church
from Detroit1701.org. In 1926 two Detroit congregations, Central Christian Church and Woodward Christian Church merged under the leadership of Dr. Edgar Dewitt Jones. Jones had been called to serve as pastor of Central Christian Church in 1920, and became pastor of the merged congregation in 1926. In 1928 a new building was constructed at the site of the previous Woodward Avenue Church to house the growing and influential congregation. They hired architect

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including ...

to design the building, which was opened in 1928. In the late 1970s, after the congregation moved from Detroit to the northern suburb of Troy, the church built another building at 3955 West Big Beaver Road in Troy, retaining the name Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The congregation has had several pastors since its move to Troy. In July 2008, Dr. Robert Cornwall became the ninth called pastor to serve the church. In 1978, the building at 9000 Woodward was sold to Little Rock Missionary Baptist church, a primarily

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

congregation founded in 1938. Today the church is known as 'The Historic Little Rock Baptist Church'. A State of Michigan historical marker commemorates the church.Central Woodward Christian Church
from michmarkers.com

References

{{National Register of Historic Places listings in Wayne County, Michigan Woodward Avenue Detroit CentralWoodward Detroit CentralWoodward Detroit CentralWoodward Detroit CentralWoodward National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Detroit CentralWoodward Detroit CentralWoodward