Church Life
Like many Black communities in the U.S., church life was meaningful to residents living in the Back of the College neighborhood. The neighborhood began with the founding of Silver Hill Church (later renamed Silver Hill United Methodist Memorial Church to acknowledge its historical significance) in 1869-70 and grew quickly as land and opportunity allowed. By mid-century, six active churches flourished and centered the social and spiritual life of the neighborhood. In their interviews, many former residents describe dressing in
their Sunday finest and walking to their respective church every Sunday morning and gathering with family and friends for meals and fellowship.
Silver Hill UMMC moved from the neighborhood in 1998 as the city made plans to develop the site, and the final living congregation in the neighborhood, Cummings Street Baptist Church, sold to Wofford College in 2018. Wofford razed the building to make room for additional football tailgate parking shortly after.
Cummings Street Baptist Church was organized in 1929 by 30 chapter members and Rev. R.S. Sims. Rev. James D. Thornton led the congregation for decades. Walker Memorial CME, also located on Cummings Street, was founded in 1883 and led by Rev. J.L. Moore. In the 1990s, Walker Memorial moved to a new location and became renamed Bunton Institutional CME Church. Mount Zion Baptist Church was founded in 1920 and originally occupied a “shotgun house” on Charlevoix Street. After Wofford College made an offer to buy the church, the congregation moved and renamed the church Mount Zion World Outreach Church. Greater Trinity AME Church was founded in 1941 and sat on the eastern edge of Evins Street. Wofford obtained the property and converted it into a studio arts building. The Metropolitan AME Zion Church was built on North Dean Street in 1921 and flourished through the 1930s into the 1950s as a center of religious and cultural life in the neighborhood. The church may have been founded as early as 1866, but records are obscure. The church was rebuilt in 1981 and still exists in the neighborhood with a modest congregation.