Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church
According to the historiographers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, on Wednesday evening May 20, 1936, Evangelist Thennie Baten, Weston Martin, Anderson Franklin, Edgar Dozier, Willie Jackson, William I. Spivey, Clifford Wimbish and John Lumpkin met in Weston Martin's home to keep the people together and to prevent further erosion of African Methodism in Hartford. Differing views had caused parishioners to leave the parent church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church which is now in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Although, the new church group met regularly, it was still an informal association. Then on August 5, 1939, Reverend Charles Richardson was invited to work with the group. He invited the participants to meet in his home on 137 Mather Street. A committee composed of Anderson Franklin, John Lumpkin, Evangelist Thennie Baten was selected to consult Bishop W.H. Heard about starting the second African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hartford. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was still in Hartford.
Presiding Bishop Heard and Associate Bishop David Simmons gave the committee permission and the informal gathering organized itself into the Second AME Church. At the May 27, 1937 annual conference (held at St. Paul AME church in Cambridge, MA), Presiding Elder accepted the church into the New England Conference. Reverend Charles Richardson was formally appointed pastor and the church took a new name - Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in honor of the 18th century Elder Richard Allen who-founded the denomination with his wife Sarah Allen, Daniel Coker, and other African American Methodists in 1787. Housed in a white framed building, Allen Chapel's history connects it with its 18th century origins, its 20th century formation in Hartford and its 21st century future.