Location Details
- 4070 Bark Hill RoadUnion Bridge, MD, 21791
The Bowens Chapel and School structure was an important part of the African-American community in the general Union Bridge Area.
A group of nine trustees who had split from the all-black Mt. Olivet congregation purchased the lot for the chapel in 1867. The deed for the lot notes that the intended purpose for the lot was to provide a school for the “colored part of the population of Uniontown District” with the assistance of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Though the building was soon completed with the aid of a few local citizens and the Bureau, and was officially listed as a school in Bureau records, it served much more early on as a meeting place and house of worship than as a school. This reflects the critical importance of a religious meeting place for African-American Union Bridge citizens, an importance that trumped even that of education. Bowen’s Chapel initially associated itself with the African Union Methodist Protestant Church, the first fully independent African American denomination.
For Additional information
- Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-1092 in search box to right of “Site No.”) (Note: entry may not yet be up on Maryland Inventory website)
