Download
[Page]
[Document]mcc-ns1-051
Farming For A Better Future, page 25
25 - COLBERT
(Top) 1910 Federal Census Excerpt Showing Richard “Dick” Vinson Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) (Above) 1940 Federal Census Excerpt Showing Arthur Neloms Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) (Left) Excerpt of Map of Colbert and Franklin Counties, Alabama, 1908, Showing Leighton with Local African American Landowners Highlighted (University of Alabama, Historical Map Collection, Online via Geological Survey of Alabama)
161
Lesley Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Lesley Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was first formed about 1880 by its namesake Pastor Lesley. The church was originally located in an area known as Gin Hill somewhere south of Tuscumbia along Woodmont Drive/Old Jackson Highway. Supposedly, the church was rebuilt and possibly relocated in 1927. According to a 1921 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, Lesley's Temple C.M.E. Church was already located at the corner of 10th and High streets, however, the church is not denoted as “Colored,” as was the custom at the time. Perhaps the church began as a white church and was bought by an African
American congregation. The 1921 map also indicates that the church was a wooden structure at the time. This was most likely the time when it was known as “Black Paper Church” for the building paper used to cover the exterior of the building. By the mid-20th century, this southeast section of Tuscumbia was well established as a historically African American neighborhood. The church was remodeled at some point as the current building is brick with a bell tower and decorative arched windows.
(Below) Photograph of Lesley Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church as It Stands Today (Google Street View, April 2014) - (4553)