In 1878, Free Methodists built a simple wood-frame church that once stood here. After the Free Methodists relocated, the church was purchased by Reverend George Willis, an African American pastor who brought his family from Tennessee to Cedar Rapids in the early 1900s. The congregation was incorporated as Christ Sanctified Holy Church in 1925. Reverend Willis was succeeded by Reverend H.G. Darden and by Reverend Viola Gibson, Willis’s daughter and a noted local civil rights leader. In 1973, Gibson retired and the church closed. Facing demolition, the building was moved to Ushers Ferry Historic Village in 1974.
Download this plaque (PDF format)
Download this plaque (PDF format)
