111 Lincoln Street

One of Lincolnville's oldest buildings, built in 1885.

111 Lincoln Street

111 Lincoln Street,
St. Augustine, FL 32084

Lincolnville Historic District

Founded in 1866 by former slaves, the Lincolnville Historic District has been the center of nearly two centuries of St. Augustine's Black history.

The 50-block region contains the largest concentration of Victorian homes in St. Augustine. 111 Lincoln Street was built in 1885 — three years before the opening of Henry Flagler's Ponce de Leon Hotel (now home to Flagler College).

Moran Family

Two generations of the Moran family lived here at 111 Lincoln St. In the 1920s, Mr. Horace Moran was the family patriarch. On Moran, the ACCORD Freedom Trail marker at the site says:

"Horace Moran was the chef at the Monson Hotel on the bayfront for half a century, and in the 1920s he was president of the company that put out The Home Circle Weekly, one of the pioneer black publications in St. Augustine. ... Moran was active in St. Mary’s Baptist Church, and from the mid-1920s on, this served as the church parsonage."

St. Mary’s Baptist Church

The plaque at 111 Lincoln St also serves to commemorate the role nearby of St. Mary's Baptist Church, which stands at 69 Washington Street in the Lincolnville Historic District.

Founded on May 25, 1875, the congregation at St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church was inspired "in its earliest days by the spirit of The Emancipation Proclamation" and the Reconstruction Period.

The current edifice of St. Mary's that now stands at 69 Washington St was built in 1937.

St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement (1951-1968)

The local movement for Civil Rights and desegregation was a decades-long effort.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, St. Augustine's Black leaders (Rev. Thomas A. Wright among them) began to call upon national groups to help bolster their efforts.

Reverend Thomas A. Wright (1920-2014) & Mrs. Affie Wright

Born in Georgia, Thomas A. Wright served in World War II after being drafted from Philadelphia. He was stationed in the Philippines when the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan.

After his return to the United States, Wright attended Florida Memorial University while the school was still in St. Augustine, graduating in 1950. While he was a student, in 1948, Wright was ordained as a Baptist pastor.

From 1951-1954, Reverend Wright attended Howard University's School of Religion.

Rev. Wright Arrives in St. Augustine

Once he finished seminary, the Wright family moved back to St. Augustine.

Reverend Wright was assigned as pastor of St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church in 1954. He became a leader in the Lincolnville community in this time, eventually becoming president of the St. Augustine NAACP.

Mrs. Affie Wright became an educator at Excelsior High School (now the site of the Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center).

Though he spearheaded the effort to get Dr. Martin Luther King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to join the St. Augustine Movement, Rev. Wright would not be here to welcome Dr. King when he finally arrived in 1964.

In 1962, Mrs. Affie Wright was fired from her job at Excelsior High because of her husband's involvement in the Civil Rights demonstrations. After 8 years in the "Ancient City," the Wrights moved to Gainesville, where Rev. Thomas A. Wright continued his Civil Rights advocacy.

In 1965, Rev. Wright's daughter, LaVon Wright Bracy, became the first Black graduate of Gainesville High School.

Rev. Thomas A. Wright passed away in 2014. Along with his civil rights advocacy and lifelong service to the Baptist Church, he also published several books, including Courage in Persona (1993).

Visiting the ACCORD Freedom Trail

Launched in 2007, the ACCORD Freedom Trail pays tribute to the activists and leaders (or "heroes and sheroes") of the St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement. The ACCORD Civil Rights Museum is the central location on the Freedom Trail.

Visit the ACCORD Freedom Trail Website to learn more.