Spring Valley African Methodist Episcopal Church in Delco celebrates new chapter during Black History Month
CONCORD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- The Spring Valley African Methodist Episcopal Church is celebrating a new chapter.
During Black History Month, the historic Black church in Delaware County held a ribbon cutting for its reopening on Saturday after it was closed for more than two decades.
Pandora Campbell's family has a long history associated with the church. She grew up attending services with her grandmother.
Campbell worked with Concord Township to help restore the church.
"For it to be revived, it's a miracle," Campbell said. "It was her dying wish to come visit this church, her childhood church that her father was a founding member of, to see it and that wish turned into this."
Before opening its doors on Saturday, the church was a pillar to the Black community starting in 1880 but welcomed everyone from any background.
"You can feel the spirit," Kieesha Carter said. "You can feel just the history and the nostalgia."
However, over the next 100 years, membership declined and it eventually closed.
In 1997, a devastating fire damaged the site until Concord Township bought it in 2014.
"This one was abandoned, burnt and resurrected through all of that," Campbell said. "It's spiritual."
The half-a-million-dollar project includes a fully restored building and a monument honoring those buried in a cemetery beside the church.
Soon they'll be offering free African American literature donated by a local library.
"It's bringing back the cultural history, the early days of Concord Township," said John Gillespie, who is the vice president of the Concord Township Council. "That's what it means to all of us."
That meaning behind the place of worship has been passed down through Campbell's family for four generations.
She hopes it will now continue with her daughter and future visitors.
"It's here and it's still standing and we still have work to do in the community," Carter said.
For now, the church isn't planning to hold any services. Instead, they'll be opening up the church for events including a ceremony for a time capsule burial to honor the church's history this summer.
