Both Tree of Life and Emanuel AME are, like Alfred Street, historic institutions with an expansive membership.Īlfred Street dates back to 1803, when members from another regional African American Baptist church separated to establish their own church in the city. It comes less than two weeks after the fatal shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and three years after another deadly shooting rampage at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. The interior of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Old Town (Photo Credit: Alexa Epitropoulos) Though the scene was cleared and the incident went as well as could be expected, the threat at Alfred Street Baptist comes at a time when incidents of violence against religious institutions are growing in number and escalating. “I can’t say enough about the Alexandria City Police and the ways in which they responded quickly, efficiently, gave us information on the spot, helped exit our members and get them out safely,” Wesley said. He said Alexandria Police swept the building with dogs trained to detect explosives and returned with the dogs after Wesley said the crowd of between 700 to 800 people left the church through an exit designated by police without incident. Nosal said police were still investigating the incident and no arrests have been made at this point. The police didn’t find a bomb or anything suspicious at the scene, and cleared it at about 9 p.m. There was no panic, no chaos.”Īlexandria Police Department Spokeswoman Crystal Nosal said police received the bomb threat via phone call and responded to the scene at 7 p.m. “We kept things very calm and sang songs and worship just continued. “ came back in and said, ‘Police are asking you to shut your phones off’ and that’s when people knew it had to be bomb-related,” Wesley said. He was later informed that police were searching for unmanned packages outside of the church. Had blocked off the area and recommended that members of the congregation remain seated. when a staff member informed him that the Alexandria Police Department Wesley said the church was nearing the end of its 6 p.m. If this building is destroyed, we will be somewhere else and doing what we are called to do,” Wesley said. “We need to let whoever this was know that, ‘No, you didn’t win and you’re not going to.’ No matter how much you threaten, we will still worship. Over the years and, in 1994 extensive renovations to the interior of theīuilding were completed.By Alexa Epitropoulos | Īlfred Street Baptist Church didn’t cancel its first Sunday service – or the next one, or its last one – after receiving a bomb threat during its worship service on Saturday evening.Īlfred Street Pastor Howard-John Wesley, who has led the historic Old Town church for a decade, said the message the church sent by continuing on with its three Sunday services is clear. Windows that were added shortly after the building's completion. Further renovations have taken place Revival facade as well as archways and stained-glass The new building included both a gable roof and a Romanesque The current two-story brick structure was completed in 1885. To Alfred Street Baptist Church following the war. However, opposition by area whites who feared the consequences of Black education led to the closure of the school shortly after its establishment.Īs was the case for many large buildings of the time, the church was used as a hospital during theĪppointed its first Black minister during the war years and changed its name It also opened a school for teaching academic subjects in the 1830s. Years after its construction, the church started a Sunday School for bothĬhildren and adults. The church was originally named First Colored Baptist Church. The new congregation leasedĪ plot of land on Alfred Street and built a small wooden church in 1818. These members of the congregation resisted the growing restrictions and divisions between white and Black members by forming their own organization, first known as the Colored Baptist Society. Three founders of Alfred Street Baptist Church were members of Alexandria’s Firstīaptist Church, an integrated congregation founded in 1803.
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