Finger Lakes history · regional story
The house a congregation helped build for its pastor
The National Park Service’s account of Auburn’s Thompson Memorial church preserves another building story: congregation members supplied much of the labor for a 1910 parsonage.
A church needs somewhere to meet; a pastor needs somewhere to live. The National Park Service’s history of Thompson Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Auburn describes congregation members taking on much of the labor for a parsonage to lower its cost. Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
The NPS traces the congregation to 1838, with meetings first in members’ homes and later in a former Washington Street schoolhouse. It dates reincorporation with the Zion name to August 24, 1846, and completion of the new church building to 1891. Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Housing for the pastor came later. In the NPS account, Reverend E. U. A. Brooks began fundraising in 1908. Ground was broken in June 1910; construction was finished by September. The people supporting the institution were also helping put up its buildings. Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
We do not yet have the building accounts, a list of the workers or records of how the jobs were divided. Those would give names and individual contributions to the labor that the institutional summary records collectively.
Sources & research notes
Review status: Developing history. Human editorial review is pending.
Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- The inspected NPS history connects the congregation’s earlier meeting places, 1891 church and 1908–1910 parsonage effort, explicitly identifying members’ construction labor.
- What remains uncertain
- Church minutes, building contracts, wages and individual workers’ accounts remain uninspected. No private oral history, inferred escape route, tunnel, present congregation statement or current visitor guidance is used.
- What we are researching next
- Find the 1908–1910 fundraising and building accounts, church minutes and contractor records. Record workers’ names only when the original evidence supports them, with separate review for any new oral testimony or community-contributed material.
Sources
- Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church — National Park Service, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park; Web page last updated January 14, 2026; historical narrative dates distinguished. Locator: The Freedom Church, opening paragraph; Designation and Current Status, historical paragraphs beginning The African Methodist Episcopal congregation and On August 24: 1838 congregation, homes/former Washington Street schoolhouse, 1846 reincorporation and 1891 building. Designation and Current Status, final two historical paragraphs: Reverend E.U.A. Brooks fundraising in 1908, June 1910 parsonage groundbreaking, September 1910 completion and much labor supplied by congregation members to lower costs. Accessed October 22, 2026.