23-531: Elias Camp Morris (May 7, 1855 – September 5, 1922) was an American minister, politician, and businessman. Born a slave, Morris attended seminary then preached at Centennial Baptist Church in Helena, Arkansas . He rose to prominence among black Baptists, leading the Foreign Missionary Convention. When the convention merged with two other black Baptist organizations in 1895, Morris became the president of
46-485: A pair of towers flanking a large central gable. The main entrances, one in each tower, are in Gothic arched openings, and the first level under the main gable consists of three bays of tripled Gothic lancet windows, separated by buttresses. A round-arch window in the gable is topped at the gable point by an oculus . The roofline of the gable is decorated by corbelled brickwork resembling vergeboard. Elias Camp Morris assumed
69-631: A role that he served for the rest of his life. The NBC had been formed that year after the merger of three black Baptist organizations, including the Foreign Missionary Convention, which Morris had led. By 1900, the convention represented over 60 percent of African American churchgoers. Afterward he was named to the executive committee of the Baptist World Alliance and was vice president of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ . Morris associated with Booker T. Washington through mutual work in
92-718: A week. Following emancipation , Morris attended schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee , Dalton, Georgia , and Stevenson, Alabama . Both of his parents died by the time Morris was fourteen. Morris supported himself by working as a shoemaker from 1872 to 1886. In 1874, he enrolled in the Nashville Normal and Theological Institute and received a license to preach in the Baptist church. In 1877, Morris set out to find opportunity in Kansas , but instead settled in Helena, Arkansas . Two years later he
115-854: Is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks. A National Historic Landmark District sometimes called a National Historical Park may include more than one National Historic Landmark and contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed or registered. Prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of
138-490: Is a historic church building at the corner of York and Columbia Streets in Helena, Arkansas . It is significant for its association with Elias Camp Morris (1855-1922), who was the pastor of the church from 1879 and who was a driving force in the establishment of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Morris served as the convention's president from 1895 until his death, and his church served functionally as
161-585: Is the only building associated with his productive life that is still standing. The Centennial Baptist Church was heavily damaged by high winds on April 12, 2020. Helena mayor Kevin Smith described the condition of the church as "a bombed-out World War II ruin." The storm, part of the 2020 Easter tornado outbreak , also destroyed two other nearby historic buildings. [REDACTED] Media related to Centennial Baptist Church at Wikimedia Commons National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark ( NHL )
184-620: The Elaine massacre during the Red Summer of 1919. Morris married Fannie E. Austin on November 27, 1884. They had five children. He received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Louisville in 1892 and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Alabama A&M University in 1902. Morris was also an early leader in the Arkansas Republican Party , serving as a delegate to
207-844: The Historic American Buildings Survey amassed information about culturally and architecturally significant properties in a program known as the Historic Sites Survey. Most of the designations made under this legislation became National Historic Sites , although the first designation, made December 20, 1935, was for a National Memorial , the Gateway Arch National Park (then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis , Missouri. The first National Historic Site designation
230-715: The National Negro Business League . At the time of his death, the NBC was the largest black denomination in America with over two million members. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt named Morris an emissary to the Congo Free State to investigate abuses committed against natives. Arkansas governor Charles Hillman Brough recruited Morris as one of his "One Hundred Speakers" to tour the state and recruit soldiers for World War I . Brough also consulted with Morris following
253-671: The Republican National Convention in 1884, 1888, and 1904; later nominations were blocked by white supremacists in his later years. Morris died after a long illness in Little Rock on September 5, 1922, and was buried in Helena's Dixon Cemetery. In 2003 Centennial Baptist Church was recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service . Centennial Baptist Church The Centennial Baptist Church
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#1732855725479276-543: The United States Congress . In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act , which authorized the interior secretary authority to formally record and organize historic properties, and to designate properties as having "national historical significance", and gave the National Park Service authority to administer historically significant federally owned properties. Over the following decades, surveys such as
299-819: The 50 states. New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia , California , Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, the latter of which has the most NHLs of all 50 states. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia . Some NHLs are in U.S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states . There are 15 in Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands , and other U.S. commonwealths and territories ; five in U.S.-associated states such as Micronesia ; and one in Morocco . Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. Approximately half of
322-634: The National Historic Landmarks are privately owned . The National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks . A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect and promote National Historic Landmarks. If not already listed on
345-608: The National Register, or as an NHL) often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9, 1960, 92 places, properties, or districts were announced as eligible to be designated NHLs by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton . Agreements of owners or responsible parties were subsequently obtained, but all 92 have since been considered listed on that 1960 date. The origins of
368-541: The United States secretary of the interior because they are: More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are NHLs in all 50 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C. Three states ( Pennsylvania , Massachusetts , and New York ) account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states, Philadelphia , Boston , and New York City , respectively, all separately have more NHLs than 40 of
391-578: The first National Historic Landmark was a simple cedar post, placed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their 1804 outbound trek to the Pacific in commemoration of the death from natural causes of Sergeant Charles Floyd . The cedar plank was later replaced by a 100 ft (30 m) marble obelisk. The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa , was officially designated on June 30, 1960. NHLs are designated by
414-546: The organization's headquarters. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003. The church was severely damaged by high winds on April 12, 2020 in the 2020 Easter tornado outbreak . The present church building was designed by Henry James Price, a parishioner of the church, and built in 1895. It is a Gothic Revival structure executed in brick, with its main (western) facade consisting of
437-593: The pastorship of the Centennial Church in 1879, then a new congregation. He quickly rose in prominence in Baptist circles, leading the Arkansas Negro Baptist Convention and chairing the board of trustees of Arkansas Baptist College , founded in 1884. He also established a publication, the Baptist Vanguard , in 1882, which became a model for other publications. The National Baptist Convention
460-516: The resulting National Baptist Convention , leading it for twenty-seven years. Morris was also active in the Arkansas Republican Party , serving as a national delegate three times, and co-founded the Arkansas Baptist College . Elias Camp Morris was born into slavery on May 7, 1855, near Spring Place, Georgia , to James and Cora Cornelia Morris. His father was a literate craftsman and taught Morris how to read and write when he visited twice
483-602: Was formed in the 1886 by the merger of three African-American Baptist church organizations. This body only achieved a united focus in 1895, at a meeting in which Morris was elected its president. The convention was the largest deliberative body of African-Americans in the nation at the time. Morris was also politically active in Republican Party circles, attending national conventions as a delegate. The Centennial Baptist Church served as Morris' home base for all of his activities, and grew substantially under his leadership. It
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#1732855725479506-657: Was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, and the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape. When the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, and rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings (either on
529-593: Was named pastor of Centennial Baptist Church . Morris was the secretary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention from 1880 to 1881, where he founded the Arkansas Times (later The Baptist Vanguard ). Morris co-founded a black seminary in Little Rock , later known as the Arkansas Baptist College , in 1884. Morris was named the first president of the National Baptist Convention (NBC) in 1895,
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