Hill Family

Rev. Charles Andrew Hill, Sr., was born in Detroit on April 28, 1893, to Mary Lantz Hill, a German-American woman, and Edward Hill, an African-American dentist. His father settled in Chicago to establish himself while Charles was still young, and his mother was left to try to raise him alone. As a result of the lack of opportunities for women at the time, Charles spent some years in a city orphanage while his mother tried to attain financial security. He graduated from Cleary Business College in Ypsilanti in 1912, from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania (where he received formal religious training) in May 1919, and Moody Bible College in Chicago.

Ordained in 1918, Hill served for a short period as assistant pastor under Rev. Robert L. Bradby at Second Baptist Church in Detroit. Unhappy with automotive companies' use of Detroit's Black churches (including Second Baptist) as labor clearing houses for "anti-union" employees. Hill found this practice unacceptable and resigned his post to take leadership in 1920 of Hartford Avenue Baptist Church. He remained at Hartford until his retirement in 1969. Under his ministry, Hartford grew in size from 35 members in 1920 to well over 1,000 members in 1945 and became one of the largest African-American churches in Detroit.

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