The church where MLK gave his final speech is getting a $1.2 million renovation

Source: ABC News/AP

April 13, 2026, 12:04 AM


MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Mason Temple, a church in Memphis where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech, will be upgraded with a $1.2 million federal grant to preserve a treasured piece of the Civil Rights Movement, officials are expected to announce Monday.

It’s part of a nearly $18 million package for Memphis projects included in the annual congressional appropriations process. The package also includes $3.1 million for the restoration of historic Clayborn Temple, the staging area for the 1968 sanitation workers strike that brought King to Memphis. It was heavily damaged by a fire investigators say was intentionally set in April 2025.

The grant for Mason Temple is for long-term facility improvements and technology infrastructure upgrades, with more details set to come at a Monday afternoon news conference by Church Of God in Christ leaders and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis who first announced the grant in February.

The two churches being renovated are located near the former Lorraine Motel, where King was fatally shot on the evening of April 4, 1968. Fighting an illness, King visited Mason Temple the night before and made what was his last speech, the stirring “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” address. King, 39, gave an impassioned account of his life experiences and seemed to foretell his own death.“I’ve seen the Promised Land. ... I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land,” King said.

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