Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Mt. Zion Baptist Church was founded in 1909 under the leadership of Rev. Sandy Lyons. The original site of the church was a one-room framed schoolhouse. Mt. Zion had just opened its new church and held its first service on April 4, 1921. Because it was the newest building in the neighborhood, rioters burned it down on June 1, 1921 during the Race Massacre.

Mount Zion was organized in 1909 and held services at several temporary locations before breaking ground for a church site at Easton Street and Elgin Avenue (two blocks west of Greenwood). After starting the project without a penny in 1914, the congregation raised funds, and the impressive church was finally finished in May of 1921, only two weeks before it was burned to the ground during the Tulsa Race Massacre. The congregation, which had gone $50,000 into debt to finance the original construction, began rebuilding immediately at the same site and completed reconstruction in 1948. The church was dedicated in 1952, at which time the original $50,000 riot debt was paid in full.