Quinn Chapel

Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) is home to the first African-American congregation in Chicago. Formed in 1844 as a seven-person prayer group, the congregation worshipped in several different locations around downtown Chicago as they grew. With many abolitionists among their ranks, the church became a station on the Underground Railroad offering food, supplies, and safe haven for fugitive slaves. The congregants purchased the current Wabash Avenue property in 1890 and hired architect Henry F. Starbuck to design this rusticated limestone and brick building with Romanesque massing and Gothic details. The building houses community and administrative services on the first floor, with a sanctuary at the second story. The walls, towers, and buttresses on the west and north elevations use Indiana limestone. Original wood doors and windows have survived. Windows are primarily fixed art glass lights, with some double hung leaded glass sashes.