Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church


Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church located at Smith and Cottage Streets in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York. It is the oldest predominantly African-American church in Dutchess County, NY. The church was a part of The Underground Railroad led by Civil Rights leader Harriet Tubman. The first black female judge in America, Ms. Jane Bolin, was a member of this church, along with other influential people. The church has experienced phenomenal new growth under the leadership of their Pastor, Reverend Edwrin Sutton. The Church as a ministry began in 1836. The church building was built between 1908 and 1910, with the parsonage added in 1914. The one-story, rectangular Gothic Revival church has an attached two-story bell tower topped by a pyramidal roof and a raised basement. The brick building features pointed arched openings and stained glass windows.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.