Utah's first African-American congregation looks to expand community outreach

SALT LAKE CITY — The Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church, Utah's first African-American congregation, is looking to expand its community outreach efforts to better serve downtown Salt Lake City.

The red-brick church may not be as large as some other churches in the city, but its history stretches back to before Utah became a state, joining more than a dozen churches established before Jan. 4, 1896.

Building the church

The Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City dates to the early 1880s, when Reverend James T. Saunders established it. Members met in homes until they could build a church building.

Historical records conflict on the exact year the church was established, but the Utah Territorial Governor Arthur Lloyd Thomas laid the cornerstone for the first Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church building in 1891. Due to a lack of funds, the structure was never completed.

A second cornerstone was laid in 1907 at 239 E 600 South in downtown Salt Lake City. This time, the building was completed in 1909, thanks to funds donated by Mary Bright, an African-American cook who made a fortune cooking for mining camps in Colorado.

Reverend Daryell Jackson, who has served as pastor of the Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church for the past eight years, said Bright's financial contributions funded the building, which was designed by Hurley Howell, a member of the congregation.

The denomination itself dates back to 1787, when Richard Allen, a former slave who had bought his own freedom, established a Methodist church for African-Americans living in Philadelphia.

The church is organized with an Episcopal leadership style, meaning bishops lead the church across more than 20 districts worldwide. Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church is part of the 5th district, which stretches across the western United States.

History of the church

The church grew over the next 50 years, with the Deseret News reporting a congregation of around 300 members in the 1960s. Over the next 50 years, the congregation slowly shrank as membership demographics shifted.

Over its history, two major fires have broken out in the church, destroying records and damaging the original building. It has undergone multiple renovations, including two in the 1970s that helped the building qualify as a Historical Site in Utah.

The main entrance to the church was shifted from the center of the building to the southwestern corner, combining the staircase up to the chapel with the staircase down to the Robert Earl Bourdeaux Fellowship Hall below. A lift system was installed in the back to allow people access to both floors without traversing the stairs.

Recent renovation

In 2023, the church discovered water damage impacting the lower basement levels. The church began a renovation project to repair the damage and improve the lower level of the church building. The renovation took several years to complete.

As part of the renovation, the church moved its offices to the western side of the basement, while the Fellowship Hall received a much-needed refresh. They installed a kitchen next to the Fellowship Hall and remodeled the women's bathroom downstairs.

According to Jackson, the water damage required crews to dig down to the foundation on the eastern side of the church to weatherproof it in 2024. Rather than digging individual sections, installing the weatherproofing and then backfilling the trench, the crews decided to dig out the entire eastern side of the church.

"We got the phone call, 'Hey, your building is leaning,'" Jackson said.

He immediately organized a prayer call with the members while the work crews quickly built a retaining wall to stabilize the building before it could collapse and take the entire side of the church with it.

"Thank God that God stepped in and held it all together until they put it all back," he said. "We weren't too happy about it."

Future of the church

Even after the recent renovation, Jackson said the church had identified a few more things that needed fixing. But the main thing that the church needs is more members.

"It's lovely, this building is awesome, but it's just a building," he said. "... We make the church, the people make the church... If you don't have good people, who's going to want to come?"

As part of bringing more people into the church, Jackson mentioned two new initiatives he planned to start: coordinating with a local school to connect congregation members with students and restarting a weekday service and luncheon on Wednesdays.

He also said he would like to coordinate with other churches to have guest pastors speak on Wednesdays.

"It's a very, very nice location to be in," Jackson said. "We have a wonderful community that we're surrounded by... We need to be ready to receive them."

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