TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — If you've gone into Downtown Tampa, you've probably seen St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church.
If the church's walls could talk, it likely wouldn't run out of stories to tell.
The historic church has been around since the 19th century. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, it was often the place to meet and organize in the city.
While it's no longer serving as a church, historic plaques and bricks with the names of the foundational members throughout the years highlight how important it is to Tampa.
Robert 'Pete' Edwards has been a member of the church his whole life. Sitting inside the church fills him with emotion.
"You sit here, and it comes into your mind," he said. "That's why, when I come up sometime, I literally cry."
While the walls obviously can't talk, Edwards can talk about the memories throughout the years.
"When I was a little boy, my great grandmama, they had the old missionary side there," he recalled. "They would come, and they would come dress the altar. Come upstairs here, and you see the old pit? They just, we would sit in the back, and then we'll detract the communion room, get it ready for First Sunday service and all."
The church was founded in 1870 as the first church settled by black people in Tampa. The beautiful red brick building with the ornate stained glass windows we know today was built in 1913.
"In the 50s and 60s, they left here right on that porch outside to march down to the Woolworth," he said. "I was a little boy. They could have used any other church or whatever. But the spirit of this church, the belief, the power people that we had was here."
Edwards still has access to the church. It serves as the life center for Metro 510, the affordable workforce apartments surrounding the church. What's inside now is a mix of the old and the new.
The original safe serves as a time capsule today. It'll be opened in 2037. One original pew remains. The original chairs from the balcony are also still in the church. Of course, there's still the outside that hasn't changed a bit.
Edwards says he's proud to live where such important history has been preserved.
He's always eager to tell his neighbors the story of the church, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
"We have to tell painful so that's why I come up here, I bring people up who haven't been here a long time, and it hits them harder than it hits me," he said. "Because the plan, you have to look at it from a planning point of view, everything north of Tyler, from Florida Avenue to Nebraska, all the way up to maybe Palm even across from Amateur Works was the black community."
Edwards says he wants to one day see black churches return to the strength they had in the past. Until then, he's happy to continue to be a part of historic St. Paul's journey.
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