491 Broad Street
|
Last updated on July 3, 2025
|
Directions from Roberta Webb's Home to site 15:
- To the right of Roberta Webb's Home
|
The Mennonite faith generally opposed the slave trade and slave labor; however, after the Civil War and emancipation, the mixing of races in the church was a decade-long issue that affected the African American community of Harrisonburg. In the 1930s, Thelma McConnell, a white student at Eastern Mennonite School (EMS), began visiting the black neighborhood of Newtown. The EMS’s Young People’s Christian Association established prayer meetings in the homes of black residents in 1935. The Virginia Mennonite Conference granted the Association funding to rent a building for the mission church services on East Gay Street. White churchgoers held services on Sunday morning, and black churchgoers held separate services in the afternoon. The mission was divided into two buildings in 1938. The white mission relocated to Chicago Avenue, while the black mission remained on Gay Street; however, it was at risk of closure.
|
|
In 1942, the Conference established the Broad Street Mission in Newtown, and a year later, Roberta Webb became the first African American resident to join the Mennonite community. However, racial tension still arose within the church due to the idea of separation of races. Over the years, the church broke out into separate branches in Harrisonburg. Services continued to be held on Broad Street and eventually integrated. The church membership dwindled, and meetings were held in the homes of church members. The Broad Street Mennonite Church congregation donated the church building to the Northeast Neighborhood Association in 2018. The space will be used for public use and church services on Sundays. The Historic Broad Street Mennonite Church will be remembered as the first church in Harrisonburg to allow black people to participate in communion.
