While our nation was on the verge of entering World War I,
a handful of Christians in Cedar Rapids,Iowa were seeking a fellowship of Christian believers with whom they could better relate,
Out of this need, the Lord supplied the vision and the means whereby Mt. Zion Baptist Church was to be born.
This was a difficult period for the congregation for they were without a church building of their own.
In 1914 the congregation obtained property on 624 Eighth Street SE which the first parsonage was built.