Bishop Henry Y. Tookes, assigned to serve the Florida District of the AME Church, and his wife Maggie, built this brick, two-story neoclassical-style house in 1939.

The house is one of the few remaining large residences in the old Sugar Hill Community, a neighborhood of Jacksonville's African American middle class during the first half of the 20th century.

Under Bishop Tookes' administration, Edward Waters College expanded with the acquisition of additional property, and the construction of the library, a women's dormitory and the J.M. Wise Stadium.

The Gamma Rho Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., occupies this rehabilitated property and offers a tour of Jacksonville's African American sites.

Information provided by Florida Division of Historical Resources.

Photo courtesy www.metrojacksonville.com