Fletcher Chapel (Church of God and Saints of Christ)
Fletcher Chapel is one of the oldest surviving houses of worship in DC.
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Dating back further than most other houses of worship in the city, Fletcher Chapel is notable as a representation of early DC's simple wood frame architecture, as well as the site of the founding meeting of the Anti-Saloon League, an important Temperance organiztion that would prove instrumental in achieving the passage of the 18th Amendment, on June 23, 1893.
Built between 1854 and 1857 as a mission church of McKendree Methodist Church, which had been established in 1845, Fletcher Chapel later became the first building associated with the Church of God and Saints of Christ, an African American denomination founded in 1903 by William Saunders Crowdy. Since its 1904 purchase by Crowdy, who is now regarded as a founder of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, the chapel has served a tabernacle, or congregation, of the church.
DC Inventory: September 26, 1996
National Register: August 14, 1997
