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Mount Zion was located at 8th and Chester and had about 25 members in 1925, when King joined. Its pastor, John Henry Moore, served without pay, and the church supported itself through "ticket selling events: quilt raffles, trips around the world, apron socials, dinners of fish fries and gumbo," according to King. Although World War I interrupted the flow of European immigrants, African Americans continued to come to West Oakland in search of railroad work. Thelma King and her parents moved to West Oakland from Port Arthur, Texas in 1922. Her husband-to-be arrived from St. Louis in 1929 and worked for Southern Pacific as a porter. He died in 1973. The 1930s brought double blows to West Oakland: the Depression, and the completion of the Bay Bridge. No longer was West Oakland an essential corridor for the East-West commute. In 1935, Mount Zion purchased its first property - a former Methodist Church at 9th and Campbell Streets. Church records show a membership of 67. In 1938 West Oakland's first public housing project, Peralta Village, was built. The following year Thelma King's husband purchased a house in Berkeley, and they moved out of West Oakland. Today, very few Mount Zion members live in West Oakland. "As they elevated their income, that caused them to move out," King said. World War II brought new residents to West Oakland to work in navy shipyards and other war industries. The City of Oakland purchased Mount Zion's facility at 9th and Campbell and used it to house war-industry workers. For a time, the congregation worshipped at a laundry, before purchasing property at 12th and Willow Streets and erecting a church there in 1941. "People were coming out here like I imagine they did for the Gold Rush," King said. Church membership - 67 in 1935 - reached 4,000 in 1945, and continued to grow. Mount Zion demolished its existing building and built a larger church to accommodate the new members. |
