Mt Zion is so grateful to be a part of the Borough of Riverton. This church has grown as the borough has grown. Please share in this great moment of history as a historical marker is placed to honor this space and the members of Mt Zion AME Church.
Please invite your friends and neighbors to join on this celebration.
Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, located at the corner of Third and Penn in Riverton, New Jersey, will celebrate 125 years in the Borough of Riverton on Sunday, June 26, 2022, with a 10:00 a.m. worship service followed by the unveiling of a historical marker provided by the Historical Society of Riverton.
Mt. Zion started as a station church supporting African American female domestic workers from Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. These young ladies were high school graduates who migrated to the Philadelphia area through an incredible network of contacts created decades before by Bishop Richard Allen and Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia, PA. Sis. Alice B. Taylor, the founder of Mt. Zion
would support these young ladies by acclimating them to the area and providing wise counsel and spiritual leadership as they worked in the homes of Riverton and Palmyra residents.
Mt. Zion became a church in the African Methodist Episcopal connection in 1896. Sis Taylor bought property on Penn Street with $1400, and by 1909 the present edifice was erected and occupied. Mt. Zion has always been in the forefront of the community, with many trailblazing members having served as everything from Postmasters to military service personnel, from domestics to blacksmiths and builders. Mt. Zion also boasts members who were renowned opera singers, musicians, educators, and business owners.
The church’s rich history even includes a visit from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. King reportedly rearranged his schedule so he could travel to Riverton to pay his respects and offer comforting words to his friend, speech writer, and lawyer, Clarence B. Jones, at the funeral of his father, Goldsborough B. Jones, a lifetime member of Mt. Zion.
A beacon of hope, Mt. Zion has provided for those seeking spiritual, emotional, financial, and at times physical refuge during the trying times of the Great Migration, the Great Depression, and most recently, the Coronavirus pandemic.
On the occasion of our 125th anniversary, the members of Mt. Zion AME invite all our Riverton neighbors to join us in celebrating our story of hope during the Sunday service and the unveiling of the historical marker on Sunday, June 26, 2022, at 10:00 a.m.
The historical marker was made possible through the collaboration of Mount Zion AME Church, the Clarence B. Jones Institute, and the Historical Society of Riverton.
For directions or questions, please contact the pastor, Rev. Dr. Leslie Robin Harrison, or the 125th
Anniversary Chairperson, Sis Natalie Tucker, by email ([email protected]) or phone (856) 499-2358.