St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Front inscription

St. Luke’s was the first Episcopal congregation in Columbia established for African Americans. Members began worshipping together in 1871 in a private house. They formally organized in 1873 under the Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Babbit and were a mission of nearby Trinity Episcopal Church (1 mi. W). They gathered in temporary locations until 1884, when they moved into a frame church at the corner of Lady and Marion Streets.

Reverse inscription

Congregants later sold the lot on Lady Street and used the proceeds to built a Gothic Revival church on Hampton Street, consecrated in 1913. St. Luke’s moved to this site in 1958. Members worshipped in the chapel on the N side of the lot until the brick church building was completed and consecrated in 1963. Both were designed by architect James B. Urquhart and built during the tenure of the Rev. William F. O’Neal.