ing as
the result of his forceful preaching.

The church has had a high record for its Christian ideals and its
public spirit. It has always stood for the best things, morally and
spiritually, in the life of the community. It has always been ready to
aid in every worthy cause. During the period immediately preceding the
Civil War, and in the days of the reconstruction, it divided honors
with the Israel Church as a place of popular assembly and referendum.
In 1918 it sold its old edifice on 15th Street between I and K
Streets, where it had worshipped for seventy-five years, and is now
located in a beautiful and commodious structure on the corner of R and
Fifteenth Streets.

The next significant effort was made by the Baptists. Persons
dismissed from the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church for the purpose of
organizing another body began in the year 1848 the existence of the
Second Baptist Church, under the leadership of H. H. Butler, a
licentiate. The next year Jeremiah Asher, a native of Connecticut,
became the first pastor and remained for two years. Mr. Asher was a
typical New Englander of superior education and high ideals. In 1850
Gustavus Brown assumed charge of the new body when it worshipped on B
Street, Southwest, between Sixth and Seventh, in a broom factory, and
subsequently at 9th and D Streets, Northwest, over Ryan's Grocery
Store. In 1853 H. H. Butler was recalled and formally ordained as
pastor. He remained with the church until his death in 1856, when
Sandy Alexander was asked to accept this charge. A permanent home was
then bought on the present site where the congregation has worshipped
ever since. Mr. Alexander continued for five years until his health
compelled him to retire. In 1861, Caleb Woodyard became pastor and
remained for two years. During this period conditions were such that
progress was not steady and this led to the recall of Mr. Alexander,
under whose direction a strong organization was effected. Following
him, came Chauncey A. Leonard and next John Gaines. Then followed
Madison Gaskins, whose service was characterized by alternating
conditions, a lawsuit, a fire and new organizations branching
therefrom as Mount Carmel, Mt. Olive in the Northeast, and Rehoboth in
the Southwest.[20]

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Churches of Washington, D. C.,
grew out of the efforts of their denomination, founded by James
Varick, Peter Williams, William Miller, Abraham Thompson, Christopher
Rush