Mt. Zion CME Church: history

              The Mt. Zion Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (Mt. Zion CME Church) in Union
City, Obion County, Tennessee, is located at the comer ofNorth Greenwood Street and
East College Street. A simple gabled-end basilica design, the structure has served the
needs of the surrounding African-American neighborhood since its construction in 1896.
The building, both interior and interior, is largely intact, and any changes over the last
one hundred years are either minor, reversible, or obvious additions to the original
building. The building combines two visibly different parts, the original 1896 sanctuary,
and a rear section, the community building and classroom, built with concrete block
circa 1940. The sanctuary boasts an all brick construction, both the foundation and the
exterior walls liberally following the English bond of anywhere from five to ten stretcher
rows to each header row. Asphalt shingles cover the huge roof, which is pitched at a
sharp angle of about 45 degrees. A small clipped gable perches atop the huge roof on
the east facade, and a large double-hipped roof protrudes from the rear of the building. A
bell tower hides the clipped gable's angle, but the clipped gable on the front facade
indicates its existence. A pyramid roof crowns the bell tower, and tar paper shingles
cover its walls. The builders used masonry to create the minimal, yet effective
ornamentation of the east facade, brickwork doubling as wall and decoration. The
combination of red brick construction and the white painted wood of the gothic window
frames creates a contrast that, when combined with the other elements of the building,
makes the Mt. Zion CME Church a symmetrical vernacular building that i~ both simple
and visually engaging.
The east, and primary, facade contains five openings, four on the first floor, and one
located in the middle of the pediment created by the gabled roof Five brick pilasters
divide the exterior of the first floor into three sections, imparting to the building a slight
classical bearing. The two outer sections, which contain the openings for the two
separate entrances, are symmetrical and larger than the middle section. The middle
section, itself divided into two sections by three brick pilasters, contains two windows.
An unbroken corbel table lying directly above, and flush with, the five brick pilasters
tops the three sections. From a distance the brickwork, when viewed in combination
with the pilasters, resembles an entablature. A descending three course unbroken brick
corbelling lies under and supports the corbel table. The masons embedded the first
course, all header bricks, directly under the corbel table, slightly below the level of the
raised brick of the pilasters and corbel table. The second row, all stretchers, also rises