Hosanna Meeting House

{{Infobox building

| name = Hosanna Meeting House

| alternate_names = Hosanna African Union Methodist Protestant Church

| image = HOSANNA CHURCH AND CEMETERY UPPER OXFORD TWP SOUTH CHESTER COUNTY PA.jpg

| address = 531 University Road

| location_town = Lincoln University, Pennsylvania 19352

| location_country = United States

| coordinates = {{Coord|39.8112|-75.9253|display=inline,title}}

| completion_date = 1845

| owner = Lincoln University

| building_type = Church

| etymology = Biblical cry of praise

| known_for = Historic African American church and station on the Underground Railroad

}}

Hosanna Meeting House, also known as the Hosanna A.U.M.P. Church, is a historic African American church near Oxford, Pennsylvania, United States, on the present-day campus of Lincoln University. Organized in 1843 and constructed by 1845, the Hosanna Meeting House was a station on the Underground Railroad and a primary place of worship for members of the free Black community of Hinsonville.{{Cite web |last=Shultz |first=Elizabeth |date=March 26, 2014 |title=Hosanna Church: The Last Building in Hinsonville |url=https://pahistoricpreservation.com/hosanna-church-last-building-hinsonville/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Commission Blog |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Weidener |first=Susan |date=May 14, 1992 |title=Plaque for a Church that Sheltered Slaves |pages=261 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112638148/plaque-for-a-church-that-sheltered/ |access-date=2022-11-06}} A Pennsylvania state historical marker was placed at the church in 1992.{{Cite book |last=Beyer |first=George R. |url=http://archive.org/details/guidetostatehist0000beye |title=Guide to the State Historical Markers of Pennsylvania |publisher=Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-89271-092-8 |location=Harrisburg |pages=105 |language=en-US}} The church and cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 2024.{{Cite web |last= |date=2024-07-10 |title=Just Listed! January through June 2024 |url=https://pahistoricpreservation.com/just-listed-january-through-june-2024/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Pennsylvania Historic Preservation: Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office |language=en-US}}

Architecture

The church is a small, one-room, one-story chapel constructed of red brick with a plain exterior, a shingled gable roof, and wooden front steps up to a wraparound porch. A crawlspace beneath the floorboards once served as a hiding place for fugitive slaves.{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Khalil |date=September 18, 2015 |title=Historic Hosanna church in Chesco to be honored with a bench |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/historic-hosanna-church-chesco-be-honored-with-bench-20150918.html |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en}} A small historic cemetery adjacent to the church was established in 1854 as one of Chester County's first marked grave sites for Black decedents.{{Cite web |last=Nielsen |first=Euell A. |date=November 2, 2015 |title=Hosanna African Union Methodist Protestant Church (1843– ) |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hosanna-african-union-methodist-protestant-church-1843/ |access-date=2022-10-31 |website=BlackPast.org |language=en-US}} Along with other former congregants and veterans of various wars, seventeen African American veterans of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment are buried in the cemetery.{{Cite news |date=May 7, 1992 |title=Briefly Noted – Marker Dedication |pages=86 |work=The News Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112638082/briefly-noted-marker-dedication/ |access-date=2022-11-06}}

History

Organized in 1843 and built by 1845, Hosanna is the only surviving structure from the village of Hinsonville, a free Black community predating the Civil War. Affiliated with the A.U.M.P. Church, Hosanna was a station on the Underground Railroad and hosted Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and other visitors.

In recognition of Hosanna's significance to the free Black community, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a marker by Old U.S. Route 1 where the road passes the church, dedicating the marker on May 9, 1992. Church and cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 2024.

As of 2015, Hosanna's congregation consisted of fewer than twenty people. The church has remained a place of worship for Lincoln University's students and staff.