The Twin Beech African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church will celebrate its 146th anniversary on Sept. 22 at 3 p.m. The theme for this year is “Honoring our Past and Celebrating our Future.”

The church is located at 6664 Twin Beech Road, Fairhope.

Twin Beech AME Zion Church evolved from a brush arbor (1867) to a frame building, through remodeling, then to a concrete block building erected in 1925 under the direction of Axil Johnson, a local white craftsman. The following ad was found in the January 1924 Fairhope Courier (page six) “Axil Johnson, Contractor & Builder. Dealer in Concrete Blocks & Bricks. Also Cement, Lime, Plaster, etc. Fairhope, AL.”

The name of the church came from the fact that the church was built between two beech trees with intertwined limbs. On April 12, 1869, Twin Beech ordained its first deacon, Brother Haywood Stanley. When the original congregation was formed 146 years ago, the town of Fairhope did not exist. The town was known as Baldwin City.

The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1988. The church’s architecture with a unique block structure and medieval and Romanesque styles makes the church one of the most unique in Baldwin County. The bell that was rung announcing deaths in the community is still located in one the two squared twin towers with their double-pitched pyramidal roofs.

Under the leadership of Rev. Michael G. Davis, Twin Beech remains a church that is rich in the history and the lives of the people in Fairhope and Baldwin County. Much community involvement emanates out of the doors of this church in Zion Methodism and members, who are privileged to be placed as “trustees” for the church, continue the legacy of Twin Beech A.M.E. Zion Church founders. The church’s mission statement is “A church of redeemed people serving humanity.”