PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

She remembers the excitement of the new church opening. “When we moved into the new church, the whole congre gation walked from the old Ward Chapel down to the new building,” she said. Growing up as Cecilia Jones, she had a brother, two sisters and a couple of very strict parents. “My brother could do anything, but us girls had to walk the chalk,” she said. “We couldn’t date, except group dating, which for us meant walking to church and back.” During Jordan’s youth, the music at Ward Chapel went through a change. “In the old days, the choir sang only anthems and hymns. They didn’t sing gospel. Gospel was for Baptists, not for the A.M.E.,” she said. Eventually, one of the pastors got a gospel choir established, though the senior choir, with its anthems and hymns, remained the primary attraction. “The A.M.E.s, we had a reputation of being businessmen and people that were educated,” said Jordan. “When you came to Ward Chapel, you wore your very best … hats and gloves. No pants for women or girls. “There was a hat shop on Fulton be tween Jefferson and Adams where we’d shop. The gloves had to match the hats.” The demeanor of Ward Chapel members was very staid during her childhood, said Jordan. “You didn’t jump up and clap your hands or get up like we do now. That was the Baptists who did that, not Ward Chapel. Now, if you feel like standing, because the spirit hit you, just stand up. “We had the reputation of being kind of snooty. We had the reputation if you go to Ward Chapel, you better not even say ‘Amen.’ “The way it is now is not the way we started out,” said Jordan. “The A.M.E. now is not like the A.M.E. I grew up with.”

Ward Chapel A.M.E. at a previous location

In 1846, Rev. Phillip Ward of Blooming ton started the A.M.E. Church in Peoria with nine founding members. Initially the church met in private homes. FAMOUS AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO HAVE SPOKEN THERE WERE FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND BOOKER T. WASHINGTON One of the earliest known locations of the Ward Chapel A.M.E. church was 409 Chestnut St., now known as State Street in Downtown Peoria. This lo cation also became the first school for Black children in Peoria. In 1867, the congregation purchased the German Methodist Church at Fifth and Monson streets. That church was torn down in 1887, making way for a new Ward A.M.E. church, built at a cost of $6,000. It remained the home of Ward Chapel A.M.E. until the current church opened in 1956. THE RICHEST OF HISTORIES, A REPUTATION FOR SERVICE The Rev. Adrian Johnson was the most recent pastor at Ward Chapel, serving there for seven years. In August, she was named presiding elder of the South Dis trict of the Illinois Annual Conference. In the interim, until a new pastor can be named, the Rev. Elaine Gordon is serving as pastor. Gordon was Ward

Chapel’s first female leader, serving prior to Johnson. Attendance at Ward Chapel is 99% Black. Prior to the pandemic, Ward’s aver age weekly service attendance was about 80. Those numbers have been down. Through its Women’s Missionary Society, Ward Chapel runs a canned food drive, gathering donations for Crittenton Centers, and also coordinates visits to soothe the sick and nursing home residents. “Saturday hot breakfast stopped during the pandemic, but their goal is to restart that,” said Johnson. “I’m sure it’ll take off. They serve 100 hot plates every Saturday. Many of the homeless popu lation and those oppressed by drug and alcohol abuse come for the breakfast.” What separates Ward Chapel A.M.E. Church from other congregations, said Johnson, “is our history.” Reportedly among the famous African Americans who have spoken there were Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. With consecutive female pastors at Ward Chapel, the A.M.E. Church ob viously has no objection to ordaining women. “A.M.E. requires you to have a master’s of divinity (degree) to be a lead pastor and more and more women are doing that. It’s pretty exciting.” Cecilia Jordan, 84, was baptized in Ward Chapel A.M.E. Church when it was located in the brick-and-stone building at Fifth and Monson.

Linda Smith Brown is a 37-year veteran of the newspaper industry, retir ing as publisher of Times Newspapers in the Peoria area

OCTOBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 63