J. L. ("Sin Killer") Griffin, a black minister who organized the Rescue Association of the United States of America and Africa in 1913, was employed by the Texas Breweries Association to see that African Americans paid their poll tax and voted against prohibition. The brewers' support, however, was decentralized and often inconsistent. Griffin was forced to make repeated pleas for money to various brewers throughout the state, not only for his operating expenses but on occasion for bail money, after being thrown in jail for trying to register Black Texans. In 1889 he separated from the Baptist Church and formed a church of his own, a "holiness" group called the Strangers' Tabernacle.

The Mt. Zion church building burned on Sunday afternoon, December 28, 1958.  The cause of the fire was undetermined.

The Denison Press
January 2, 1959
pg. 1

Mt. Zion Church Destroyed by Fire
Denison's Mt. Zion Negro Baptist Church was destroyed by fire Sunday afternoon with damages estimated at $100,000, according to Rev. S.H. Mitchell, pastor.  The building was a total loss, and no cause for the fire could be determined.  Firemen were called to the scene at 4 p.m. by Mrs. L.E. Mundane, who lives across the street.   The three-story building was enveloped in flames when firemen arrived.  Several homes on either side of the building were threatened by the fire and residents moved their belongings from them.  No other structures caught fire but grass fires spread rapidly and kept one fire truck busy battling the spreading blaze.  Several firemen received burns on their hands and feet but no one was seriously injured.  Only $20,000 insurance was carried on the building, according to a statement from C.B. Brown, trustee.  The original Mt. Zion church was built in 1908 and rebuilt in 1928.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Brewers and Texas Politics (2 vols., San Antonio: Passing Show Printing Company, 1916). Ralph W. Steen, Twentieth Century Texas: An Economic and Social History (Austin: Steck, 1942).

"GRIFFIN, J. L.," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fgr61), accessed December 06, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.