A 116-year-old memorial was stolen from, then returned to, a historic Black church in Parkville

On Jan. 21, Washington Chapel C.M.E. Church was broken into and a piece of a memorial stained glass window removed. The church was built in 1907 by formerly enslaved families in Parkville, Missouri.
Shards of blue glass clinked together, remnants of a memorial stained-glass window at Parkville’s historic Black church built by formerly enslaved folks.

Positioned over the steps that lead to the church entrance, the lower-left part of the large stained-glass window once displayed the name of one of Parkville University’s co-founders, John A. McAfee.

Now, it sits in a broken pile at the top of the steps of Washington Chapel C.M.E. Church.

Pearl Douglass Spencer, one of the congregants, had called the police when it was vandalized a week prior. Then early Saturday morning, she learned it had been returned. Her sister Lucille Douglass was in disbelief. She thought McAfee’s namesake was gone for good.