Zion Chapel

This independent evangelical congregation existed in the city of Adelaide from 1855 to 1922. As one of Adelaide’s self-styled Christian churches, its members rejected denominational labels and took ‘no name but Christian’. Located in Pulteney Street, between Wakefield and Flinders streets, the foundation stone of the chapel was laid in 1848 for a Baptist congregation that later united with a Baptist church in North Adelaide. In 1855 this building was reopened as Zion Chapel, formed by some former members of the Bentham Street Christian Chapel. During the next 60 years the pastors of Zion Chapel were Jacob Abbott and father and son William and Robert Kettle Finlayson. Besides baptism by full immersion, performed originally in the River Torrens at Marden, a prominent feature of the church was its support of missionary work, both in India and China and among the Ngarrindjeri at Point McLeay in the South East. Members also cooperated with non-denominational evangelical bodies such as the Young Men’s Christian Association and the Adelaide City Mission. When its congregation dispersed after 1922 Zion Chapel passed to the Plymouth Brethren. It was demolished in 1955.