Between 1877 and 1888 the congregation used a wooden framework as a church at this location. By 1888 members of the church bought another plot from one Mrs. Kingman and a bigger church was built at 523 North 20th Street. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed by a tornado which swept through Mattoon in May 1917. The church was rebuilt. The original members of the A.M.E. were "Asker Brown, Lewis Martin, Mary Pope, Elizabeth Broady, Elizabeth Norton, Susan Perry and Martha Powell. The original board [of the church] consisted of Milford Norton, John Powell, and Austin Perry." (48) By 1895 the congregation had grown to thirty-eight members with Rev. W.H. Coles as the pastor. And by the turn of the twentieth century, the congregation had risen to sixty-five members. However, gradually the church lost its membership to either death or voluntary emigration out of Coles County. (49) The last service was held in the church in 1974.

The history of the Second Missionary Baptist Church in Mattoon is very similar to that of the A.M.E.. The church was formally established on November 3, 1869 by Rev. John Artis, who in 1868 had established one in Paris, Illinois. At the beginning the "congregation was small and did not have [permanent] pastors... Several pastors came and moved on shortly after." (50) In the past Reverends Matteson, Duke, Turner, Mayes, Bordon, Mason, Sharp, Patrick, Murrell, Jones, Jackson, Estell, Weary and Clark were pastors at the church. The current pastor is Cyprus Hughes. Throughout its history, the church had experienced ups and downs. As was the case with the A.M.E. in 1917, the church was destroyed by a tornado. The church was rebuilt and in 1965 was renovated and some additions were also made to the building. Currently the congregation stands at about 200 members. In 1997, the church moved from its old building on 2520 Shelby Avenue to a new ultra modern building on Old State Road in Mattoon. For African Americans it has been a continuous struggle to maintain their identity as a people considering the fact that they were very few in the county. As Juanita Williamson has stated, because of some sense of isolation "The only time we talked about it [racism] was in church. This is why it was so essential for us to have a church." (51) For about a hundred and thirty three years, the Second Missionary Baptist Church has remained the pillar of the black community in Coles County. According to Cyprus Hughes, if the founders of the church "Didn't think (the church) was a unifying factor or agency... there would be no cohesion at all." (52)

The dream of African Americans to live normal lives in Coles County was sometimes shattered by racial intolerance. Their faith in humanity was also tested. Racial prejudice took different forms. In 1855 Miss Ida Mcnett, a daughter of a contractor to the Illinois Central Railroad opened a school in the old Baptist Church at South Fifteenth Street and Wabash Avenue in Mattoon She enrolled thirty pupils (both blacks and whites) who were taught in a church building controlled by the True family. As the records of the period had it, "A story which shows the trend of the times and the spirit of the pioneers is told in regard to the reason for the closing of Miss McNett's school. Among the pupils was Miss Susan Powell, a colored girl, sister of John Powell, the first barber of Mattoon. One day someone asked Miss McNett who was her brightest pupil. "Susan Powell," she answered. That little girl is the best pupil I ever had." (53) Soon the news spread "that Miss McNett was favoring a Negro Child and the story reached the ears of the True family", the owners of the school building. (54) Miss McNett confirmed to the Trues that she in fact made the statement. The Trues decided to close the building to Miss McNett and that led to the closure of her school. Whereas Miss McNett's ordeal occurred in 1855, the situation did not change dramatically in the twentieth century.

In the early twentieth century, Mrs. Ona Louisa Norton had her own experience with racism in the Charleston school system. In an interview Angela Whitmal conducted with her in 1990, it is recounted that, "When she was a school girl she attended the Western School. The school was only a few blocks away from her home. The boys at school began calling her names which she didn't care to repeat. She told her mother this was happening. One day her mother was outdoors and head the boys calling her names." (55) Her mother responded by complaining to the school superintendent, Mr. Quackenbush. Mr. Quackenbush subsequently reprimanded the boys. In the same vin, the Foster and Williams families of Mattoon have had their own share of racial tensions in their neighborhood. For instance, "Four times during an especially hateful time in the 1970's, young white men drove by Eli and Nellie Foster's house and fired at it. Nellie Foster believes it was done in retaliation for some interracial dating in Mattoon. At first she said, "We ignored it," but when the shootings continued she demanded police action," (56) Mrs. Roberta Williams who has lived in Mattoon all her life, about 81 years, "remembers not being allowed to eat in many of the uptown restaurants, recognizes the shortcomings of some of the racial attitudes in the area. On the other hand she feels close to the community." (57)