The ceremony celebrated the church's historic significance and its longstanding role in the community.
"The congregation at Saint Paul AME Church" gathered to celebrate the occasion, which recognizes the church as a historic landmark. The designation highlights the church's connection to the first Freedmen's Conventions, where freedmen met at Saint Paul in 1865 and 1866.
Florence Avery, chair of the Historical Commission, reflected on the church's continued impact.
"It's a wonderful church. We have a lot of things going on, you know, of all ages. We have a senior group that really is something else."
Church leaders said the recognition honors a site that played a significant role in African Americans' fight for equality, including efforts related to voting rights, the right to testify in court and other civil rights.
Dr. Steve Lyons, pastor of Saint Paul AME Church, said the church remains committed to serving the community.
"We are indeed grateful to stand as a place of hope, restoration, healing and advancing the kingdom of our God. And we're grateful to still be here and yet do continuous ministry."
According to Avery, efforts to secure the marker date back decades.
"The national marker piece, they got it in 1987, but they didn't get a marker. We had the national marker register of people they stop giving the markers and left it up to the honorees to provide their own."
"So, it's been a long journey, you know, from 87 to now. So, we just wanted to complete that process."
A separate marker installed last year recognized that freedmen met at Saint Paul for the first Freedmen's Convention in 1865 and 1866.
Lyons said the new marker will help raise awareness of the church's history and ongoing mission.
"It allows this community, it allows the world to see that Saint Paul is here and we have lasted all of this time to be able to do what God would have us to do, to serve humanity, whomever, to be here, to provide whatever we need to advance the kingdom of our God."
Church leaders said preserving the church's legacy remains a priority as they continue historical research and community outreach.
Avery said additional projects are underway.
"Well, we have a lot of projects in the works. We continue to work with our youth and we got some exciting plans for them and to continue our doing the research on our history and just growing the church and still be invisible because the projects that we're involved in and not kind of in, there's a lot of need out in the community."
Looking ahead, church leaders said their next goal is to secure grants to restore parts of the building while continuing to preserve the church's history for future generations.
Download the ABC11 News app