Capers Memorial CME Church started as a slave mission church of McKendree Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832. The slave congregation established its own building in the 1851, called Capers Chapel in honor of its founder, Bishop Capers.

Later, in 1867, Capers Memorial Church was organized and soon became affiliated with the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, now Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church.

Capers Memorial CME Church is one of the first churches designed by the Nashville firm McKissack and McKissack. The firm was one of the most important African-American architectural firms in the country in the early 20th century.

Sources:

National Register of Historic Places — Nomination Form, Tennessee Historical Commission, August 1984.

Mayme Hart Johnson, A Treasury of Tennessee Churches (Brentwood: J M Productions, Inc., 1986), p. 104.