Abyssinian Meeting House
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Abyssinian Meeting House
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| Location | 73–75 Newbury St., Portland, Maine |
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| Coordinates | 43°39′44″N 70°14′58″W / 43.66222°N 70.24944°WCoordinates: 43°39′44″N 70°14′58″W / 43.66222°N 70.24944°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1828 |
| Architect | Unknown |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 05001612 |
| Added to NRHP | February 3, 2006 |
The Abyssinian Meeting House is a historic church building at 73–75 Newbury Street, in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Built 1828-1831 by free African-Americans, it is Maine's oldest African-American church building, and the third oldest in the nation. Throughout the years, the Abyssinian was a place for worship and revivals, abolition and temperance meetings, speakers and concerts, the Female Benevolent Society, the Portland Union Anti-Slavery Society and negro conventions, and the black school in Portland from the mid-1840s through the mid-1850s. The building is the only Underground Railroad site in Maine recognized by the National Park Service. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
The Abyssinian was the cultural center for African-Americans in southern Maine. It was formed to meet the demand from African-Americans in Portland to have a place to worship. Christopher Christian Manuel, his brother-in-law Reuben Ruby, Caleb Jonson, Clement Thomson, Job L. Wentworth, and John Siggs published a letter on September 19, 1826 in the Eastern Argus newspaper which condemned the Second Congregational Church in Portland for treating non-white members as second-class citizens. At the time, church pews were segregated and African-Americans were designated balcony seating or discouraged from attending services at all. Manuel, Ruby and three others petitioned the state of Maine for incorporation of the Abyssinian Religious Society in 1828. The building became the Abyssinian Congregational Church.
Reuben Ruby (1798–1878) played a central role in the beginning of the Abyssinian. He transferred the original land to the Society in March 1831 and performed work on the interior of the building. Throughout the Northeast, he enjoyed a reputation as an unwavering spokesman against slavery and was a major participant in forming the Maine Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. He was self-employed as a hackman and, through his business, transported escaped slaves. Ruby also hosted William Lloyd Garrison in his home. In 1836, Ruby brought a suit against the Society for non-payment on the mortgage he held and improvements he had made to the building. Ruby was a defendant in an 1837 case brought against him by Samuel W. Chase, minister the Abyssinian.
The Abyssinian housed an active congregation for 86 years, from 1831 to 1917. In 1842, some black parishioners from the Fourth Congregational Church in Portland merged with the Abyssinian Religious Society to form the Abyssinian Congregational Church and Society. It also was known as the Sumner Street Church and then the Newbury Street Church, as the name of the street changed.
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