In 1867, several of Rockville’s African American families left Jerusalem Methodist Episcopal Church to start the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church under the leadership of Reverend Charles Pipkins. They met in private homes and rented spaces until 1890, when the congregation cut timbers and erected a frame church on Middle Lane, which they named in honor of Reverend George Wylie Clinton (1859-1921), a highly respected member of the A.M.E. Zion Church. Later, in 1904, they moved their services into this brick structure which stood on N. Washington and Beall Ave. The congregation sold the brick church in 1955 to make way for a shopping center, dedicating their present church on Elizabeth Avenue in Lincoln Park in the fall of 1956.