Hosanna Meeting House
Architecture
The Hosanna Meeting House is a small, one-room, one-story chapel constructed of red brick with a plain exterior, a shingled gable roof, and wooden front steps up to a wraparound porch. A hidden crawlspace beneath the floorboards once served as a hiding place for fugitive slaves. A small historic cemetery adjacent to the church was established in 1854 as one of Chester County's first marked grave sites for Black decedents. Along with other former congregants and veterans of various wars, seventeen African American veterans of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment are buried in the cemetery.
History
Organized in 1843 and built by 1845, the Hosanna Meeting House is the last remaining structure from the village of Hinsonville, a free Black community formed prior to the American Civil War. Affiliated with the A.U.M.P. Church, Hosanna was a station on the Underground Railroad and hosted Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and other visitors. To honor Hosanna's significance to the free Black community, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a marker by Old U.S. Route 1 (Baltimore Pike) where the roadway passes the meeting house, dedicating the marker on May 9, 1992.
As of 2015, the congregation consisted of fewer than twenty people. The church has remained a place of worship for Lincoln University's students and staff.
See also
References
- ^ Shultz, Elizabeth (March 26, 2014). "Hosanna Church: The Last Building in Hinsonville". Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Commission Blog. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
- ^ Weidener, Susan (May 14, 1992). "Plaque for a Church that Sheltered Slaves". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 261. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ^ Beyer, George R. (2000). Guide to the State Historical Markers of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-89271-092-8.
- ^ Williams, Khalil (September 18, 2015). "Historic Hosanna church in Chesco to be honored with a bench". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
- ^ Nielsen, Euell A. (November 2, 2015). "Hosanna African Union Methodist Protestant Church (1843– )". BlackPast.org. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
- ^ "Briefly Noted – Marker Dedication". The News Journal. May 7, 1992. p. 86. Retrieved November 6, 2022.