EAST ORANGE - Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church intends to expand its Ampere community services by remodeling a corner building two doors south of its 235-237 North 18th St. sanctuary.
"We have just bought 231 North 18th on the corner," announced Pastor Niles R. Wilson during the church's inaugural motorcycle blessing service May 1. "Our next step is to work in the financing. We intend to turn it into a new ark for youth and the community."
231 North 18th Ave., at Crescent Place, is a vacant two story building. It has housed Broadway real estate, Connolly & Connolly Insurance and, more recently, Ampere Coin Store, 1950-65.
Pastor Wilson, who is also a Newark Police Department Deputy Chief, said that 235-237 North 18th Ave., used to be the Ampere Theater into 1957 and was American Legion Post 73 by 1965. The theater's balcony is still evident in Greater Cornerstone's sanctuary.
"Greater Cornerstone started in Newark," said Wilson. "We got moved out by the Society Hill townhouses."
Both the prospective center and church are in the heart of East Orange's Ampere section. The East Orange Ampere Branch Library, closed since January for asbestos cleaning, and the Ampere Station site, razed by New Jersey Transit in 1992, are nearby.
Wilson and Newark's Paradise Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jethro C. James blessed 18 motorcycles in one of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church's Centerway parking lots May 1. The blessing is part of Greater Cornerstone's Victory Motorcycle Club - a newly formed arm of its Men's Ministry.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
