Historic Bethel AME Church Has Deep Ties to Reno's African American Community

Reno's Bethel AME Church (Julia Moreno photo)

  The Bethel AME Church at 220 Bell Street in Reno has seen its fair share of changes. Built in 1910, it was the city’s first church for its black residents and played a key role in organizing Civil Rights efforts in Northern Nevada in the mid-20th century.

  The church was constructed by members of the African Methodist Episcopalian congregation, which had been established in Reno in 1907

   At the time, Reno was not only the state’s largest and most prosperous community, but home of the state’s largest black population, estimated to be about 225 people.

  To oversee construction of the church, the California Conference of the AME Church sent Reverend William Solley. In his report to the conference, Solley said a temporary wood-frame structure would be erected first so services could begin immediately. At the same time, work would begin on the permanent church.

  On May 29, 1910, the new church was formally dedicated. It was a small, rectangular, gable-roofed, clapboard structure. The most prominent feature of the new church was its four, Gothic-pointed-arch stained-glass windows.

  The church soon became the center of Reno’s African American community, particularly because AME teachings promoted the idea that individuals should improve their place in society by making positive contributions to their community.

  According to its 2001 nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places, church members “were active in community activities that sought to promote equality for blacks through example of good citizenship.”

  This perhaps was best illustrated by the role church members played in establishing the first Nevada chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1919.

  In 1941, the congregation had outgrown the small church and efforts were made to find a larger facility. After identifying a potential new home in northwest Reno (in Dania Hall at Seventh and Sierra streets), the congregation encountered racist objections from surrounding neighbors, who claimed a black church would lower their property values.

  Ultimately, the purchase of the Dania Hall was abandoned and the congregation, instead, decided to enlarge and remodel the Bell Street church. This new construction (built around the original church) included adding a basement with a kitchen and dining room, addition of three rooms for Sunday School instruction and an exterior brick veneer.

  In the 1950s and 60s, Bethel AME Church served as a safe space/gathering spot for local Civil Rights leaders seeking to end the discriminatory practices, especially regarding housing, employment, and even shopping at white-owned businesses, that were, unfortunately, then common in Reno.

  In the nomination form for the National Register, the church was cited for being the longtime home of the “longest operating black congregation in Nevada” and for its role as “one of Nevada’s most significant buildings associated with the history of its black population.”

  The congregation continued to use the enlarged church until 1993, when it acquired a building at 2655 Rock Boulevard in Sparks. The old church building was sold and converted into a homeless shelter for veterans. More recently, it has again served as a church, the Reno Assembly of God.

  In early 2024, Jacobs Entertainment, which is redeveloping much of that area into an entertainment district, requested abandonment of the right-of-way in front of the church. The church’s leadership, fearful that the move might ultimately lead to the demolition of the church, opposed the abandonment. The matter has been postponed for the time being by city officials and Jacobs.

  In the meantime, if you find yourself driving down West 5th Street and turn onto Bell Street (just past Beto’s Taqueria), check out the little church, which is the oldest surviving African American church in the state of Nevada.

  For more information, go to the excellent Reno Historical website, https://renohistorical.org/items/show/43, or read the cover story in the Historic Reno Preservation Society’s Winter 2005 newsletter, Footprints, https://www.historicreno.org/media/custom/docs/FPv8n1.pdf.