[2] Founded in 1848, as a land grant from wealthy Black residents, Mrs. Sarah-Ann Hasbrouck and her husband, Alexander, it is the oldest continuous African-American congregation in Kingston and Ulster County.

Designed by Kingston architect Thomas P. Rice, who constructed several municipal buildings, the church was brick and stone in early-20th Century, neo-Gothic style.

The bays flanking the front entrance each feature a large, rounded-arched window opening with Gothic-arched, tripartite lancets, yellow-colored stained-glass, all capped by a stone hood mold.

1927) is located near the base of the front, northwest corner of the church; Brick and concrete steps lead up to the main entrance positioned within the central tower bay.

During the Colonial period, the economy depended on Slave Labor, and the Dutch West India thousands of Africans were transported to the area.

Prominent members of the AME Zion was known as “the Freedom Church”, and the denomination included James Varick, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree), raised in neighboring Esopus.

[10] Later, during the Civil Rights Movement, several influential members (Everette C. Hodge and Leonard Van Dyke) were prominent local activists.

[12] In addition to religious services, the AME Zion Church of Kingston served as a meeting place for such clubs as the Boy Scouts, the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America, and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and later the Maria Coles Perkins Lawton Progressive Women's Club.