970 Laguna Street
Western Addition · San Francisco, CA 94115
Bethel A.M.E. Church occupies two adjoining parcels, 970 and 916 Laguna Street. This page covers 970, the address the congregation uses.
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1852–1854
The Reverend Thomas M. D. Ward moved his congregation into a carpenter shop on Scott Street, refitted for religious services, until he could buy a larger building on Powell Street.
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1860s
The congregation held supper-dances at Assembly Hall, at Post and Kearny Streets — supper with the clergy, dancing after they left.
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1862
The congregation bought a frame building on Powell Street between Jackson and Pacific for $5,500, and met on that site until the 1940s.
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1969–1973
The Bethel A.M.E. Church buildings at 916–970 Laguna Street were constructed.
Not yet documented: the architect and builder, the date of the last recorded sale, where the congregation met between leaving Powell Street in the 1940s and 1969, and which of the two church parcels — 970 or 916 Laguna Street — holds the sanctuary. Submit an update