Alvin Brown remembers walking inside Mount Gilead Baptist Church and gazing up at the stained glass dome, the opera chairs in the balcony and the pipe organ. While immersed in the space of the Fort Worth building, he was transported back to the Brooklyn Baptist church he grew up in.
Brown, who has lived in Fort Worth for 25 years, had always seen the red brick church. When he learned that the building was for sale, he dug into Mount Gilead’s story and its legacy as a cornerstone of Fort Worth African American history.
At 150 years old, Mount Gilead is the oldest operating African American Baptist church in Fort Worth, a place where generations of worshippers navigated life after emancipation, the Great Depression, and two world wars in what was once known as Fort Worth’s “Black Wall Street.”
Brown wants to preserve the history of the building that rises above Grove and East 5th streets through a realization of his vision for its next chapter of serving Fort Worth.
The owner of Airport Field Services LLC officially announced his intent to purchase the building on July 16 and his plan to renovate the building for future use as a performing arts center.
“The history and resilience is what means a lot to me, and it manifests in the structure,” Brown said. “It's what African Americans have in place here in Fort Worth and what that means moving forward and making sure that it's sustainable, making sure that the resilience continues.”
Airport Field Services plans to close on the sale within the next few weeks, Brown said.
The renovations are intended to honor Mount Gilead’s legacy by preserving the character and defining features of the building wherever feasible and adapting the space for renewed public use, according to a July 16 press release.
Brown is working with architect DeQualés Thompson, who grew up in Fort Worth and attended Crowley High School. Thompson is the principal and co-founder of Thompson Sada Architecture + Design, a North Texas commercial architectural firm.
“Demolition is an act that we wish not to engage in” from both a sustainability and cultural perspective, Thompson said.
“We're really not looking to cover things up with a modern aesthetic, but try to find these little pockets within the existing framework to then nestle them in, so you really feel the juxtaposition between what's new and what’s of the past,” Thompson said.
Brown aims to make it a place that can house various art forms.
The proposed performing arts center will support live music, theater, spoken word, visual arts programming and cultural events, contributing to the creative future of downtown Fort Worth, according to the July 16 press release.
Brown sees this as an opportunity to collaborate with local artists, emerging art students and other Fort Worth art institutions like Bass Performance Hall and Jubilee Theatre.
Creating a space for people to gather, to learn and create aligns with the role Mount Gilead played as a hub where people gathered for community, he said.
“We immersed ourselves in the historical nature, the historical background of Mount Gilead,” Brown said. “I believe that a performing arts center works in the same way (that’s) why (Mount) Gilead was brought about in the first place.”
Mount Gilead’s congregation held its last service in the downtown building in late May. The congregation continues to worship at the William M. McDonald YMCA while looking for a new church.
As the project moves forward, additional evaluation is expected around preservation priorities, building conditions, renovation scope and community engagement opportunities to help shape the site’s next chapter, according to the press release.
While the project is still in its early stages, Brown has ideas for ways to invite the community into the space through a jazz series, school tours and storytelling.
“That communal approach is what I wanted to continue … not taking away from the core mission of Mount Gilead, but reinventing it to move into the future,” Brown said.
Marissa Greene is the Faith & Fellowships Editor at the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
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