African American church has had its last service in its historic Fort Worth building
Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, the oldest African American Baptist church in Fort Worth, has closed its building and is seeking a new home while temporarily holding services at a YMCA.
The church celebrated 150 years of existence last year, but due to the ost of renovations needed on its building and a lack of offers to purchase it, the congregation decided to move on from the historic building at 600 Grove St. in downtown Fort Worth. The church’s last service there was on May 31.
The congregation has been holding services at the William M. Macdonald YMCA in southeast Fort Worth since February.
Pastor Lorenzo Jones said his final message to his church during the final service in the Grove Street building was that the Mt. Gilead story did not start or end on Grove Street. There were two other buildings that housed the congregation, and it’s part of a powerful legacy that will not be forgotten but passed on to a new generation, he said.
“We’re focused, we’re on the same page, and we are looking forward to the next chapter to build something potentially greater than what we can imagine,” Jones told the Star-Telegram.
Jones says he will miss the people he saw every Sunday at the Grove Street church, the sermons, the holidays, the baptisms, and knowing he is standing on the shoulders of people who believed in the work they did for the church and their community.
Jones said the renovation costs would have ranged between $3 million to $4 million dollars. The building had multiple issues, including a broken air conditioner, peeling paint, and noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (people in wheelchairs are carried up the church’s steps).
In August 2025, the congregation voted to sell the building. The building is currently listed at $2.5 million based on the downtown market, surrounding properties, and location. The church had hoped to use proceeds from the sale to find a new location that would preserve its congregation, name, identity, and history.
In May 2025, the church was listed on Historic Fort Worth’s 2025 Most Endangered Places, a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and preserving the city’s architectural heritage. The list highlights historic places in need of restoration or preservation. The buildings recognized have generally been threatened by a lack of maintenance, loss of parking, and owners’ lack of awareness of economic incentives available to rehabilitate historic buildings.
Mount Gilead Baptist Church was founded by 12 formerly enslaved people in September 1875. The first building was in a Black settlement called “Baptist Hill” near 15th and Crump streets. The church then moved to a building at 13th Avenue and Jones Street in 1882-83. It included a library, cafeteria, pipe organ, an indoor baptismal, a day nursery, an indoor pool, a kindergarten and opera chairs in the balcony.
The current 4,800-square-foot building at East Fifth Street and Grove Street was completed in 1912.
Jones said the congregation is in the early stages of finding its new home in a place where it can connect with the community and make it a better place.
