Mt. Zion Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Mt. Zion Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, formerly Mt. Zion Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic African-American church in Union City, Tennessee, at the corner of North Greenwood and East College Streets. The Mt. Zion congregation was organized in 1870, the same year that the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was formed as a new denomination by African Americans who had been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In its early years, the congregation worshiped in a frame church in Union City's African-American neighborhood. By the 1890s, the growth of the congregation and the increasing prosperity of its members led it to start a larger brick church building. The new church was constructed by church members and dedicated in 1896. Its architecture is a vernacular interpretation of the Gothic Revival style popular in the late 19th century. The original 1896 brick building houses the church sanctuary. It is a symmetrical basilica design with gable ends and a bell tower. A notable feature of the interior is its unusual hipped ceiling. The ceiling, which is elevated about 30 feet (9.1 m) above the floor, has three sections formed of narrow wooden planks suspended from the rafters. The center section of planks is parallel to the floor. The side sections angle down to the brick walls. Overhead lighting in the sanctuary comes from four Victorian-era branc

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