A Baptist church from Arlington, Virginia, is celebrating its 160th anniversary in Pittsburgh, of all places. Their founding pastor, Reverend Dr. Robert Simon Laws, was buried here in the Homewood Cemetery in 1903, in an unmarked grave.
As a part of their anniversary year, Mount Zion Baptist Church is working to recover, preserve and share the stories of their ministry, which has made its way to Pittsburgh.
On Friday, more than two dozen members of Mount Zion gathered with Pittsburgh locals to recommit Rev. Dr. Law’s resting place. Mayor Corey O’Connor and the City of Pittsburgh also recognized July 10, 2026, as Rev. Robert Simon Laws Day.
“The seeds he planted in ministry are still living today,” said Reverend Dr. Andre D. Ivy, current pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church during the service. “Because of what he did, pastoring a church in 1866, one year post slavery. And our church is still a beacon of light in that community, very socially active.”
Members of the Congregation of Mount Zion Baptist Church, along with Pittsburgh residents gathered after the service.
For Rev. Dr. Ivy, this service was more than just a homecoming for his church. He has ties to Pittsburgh himself and was surprised to learn that their founding pastor had, too. Rev. Dr. Ivy is a 1996 graduate of University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, the same class as his now wife. He was later licensed to ordain at the Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Larimer.
Kyra Hicks, a congregant of Mt. Zion used her own research skills during the pandemic to trace Rev. Dr. Law’s history. Just a few decades ago, this might not have been possible, she said. She used online newspaper archives and sites like Ancestry.com. She described the research as meaningful.
“The first — the most important thing is — it makes Reverend Dr. Laws alive in a way that before he was just the name of our first pastor,” she said, “And now there’s a richness about what he did. He graduated from Howard University. I mean, he knew Frederick Douglas!”
According to Hick’s research, Reverend Simon Laws was born into slavery around 1837 in Middlesex County, Virginia. In 1863, records indicate that a $100 bounty was offered for his return.
The next record of a Robert Laws was in January of 1866 at Freedman’s Village, a temporary refuge for emancipated and self-emancipated African Americans near Washington, D.C., where he became a prominent member of the community.
He pursued an education at the National Institute and Wayland Theological Seminary, which prepared him for his role as the pastor at Old Bell Church, one of two houses of worship in the Freedman’s Village.
When the Old Bell Church collapsed, Rev. Laws was there to lay the cornerstone of what would become the Mount Zion Baptist Church.
He later moved to Washington D.C., graduated from Howard University’s Preparatory Department, and established another Baptist church there that remains active today — Friendship Baptist Church.
Finally, he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1895, where he was editor of the Twin City News, a Black newspaper serving Allegheny County. He spent a brief time in Ohio, but returned and was formally installed as pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in the Lower Hill District of Pittsburgh.
The church grew under his leadership. At the river’s edge near what is now the Rachel Carson Bridge, he performed baptisms in the river.
The then Pittsburgh Gazette reported one of Rev. Laws’ last documented sermons titled “The Good Fight” in 1903. A little over a month later, he died of pneumonia and was buried at Homewood Cemetery at 66 years old, in an unmarked grave, until now.
His gravesite now commemorates his time as pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church and of Mount Olive Baptist Church of the Lower Hill District Fulton Street near Wylie Ave.
“His life stands as a lasting testimony even in the darkest of times. So today we’re grateful for his life, his legacy, and it will always live on in all of our hearts,” Rev. Dr. Ivy prayed.