Future home of the MLK Museum is rising from the ashes after house fire

CAMDEN, New Jersey (KYW) — A historic structure is rising from the ashes. Nearly two years since heavy flames tore through a home in Camden where Martin Luther King Jr. once stayed, the home is now being transformed.

“I actually can see it fully restored,” said Pastor Amir Khan, the President of New Beginnings Behavioral Health, who purchased the home several years ago on the 700 block of Walnut Street.

Looking through the window, past the burnt beams, the broken brick, and the scorched staircase, Khan said he sees a new beginning and a piece of Black history being rebuilt.

“What I really see, I see more Martin’s being inspired when they walk through this place,” Khan said.

This place is the future home of the MLK Museum. Historians say Martin Luther King Jr. stayed here while he was a graduate student at Crozer Theological Seminary in Delaware County from 1948 to 1951, and it’s where he planned his first civil rights sit-in.

In March 2023, a fire almost destroyed the home, but firefighters were able to save it. Now, contractors and architects have started working to breathe new life into the historic structure.

“Individuals that will be able to walk through and walk where Dr. King walked, they’re going to see where he slept, ate, prepared his messages, prepared his sit-in,” Khan said.

A groundbreaking was held last month. The home is being gutted, and the walls are being shored up. The roof and windows on the home are expected to be installed in about five to six months, and construction is on track to be completed by the end of 2026.

Khan says plans are also moving forward to build the South Jersey Center for Social Justice in a lot next to the home, which will showcase the heart and spirit of Dr. King during his time in South Jersey.

“Where people can walk through and see different civil rights movements of Dr. King, as well as what took place here in the city of Camden back in the 50s and 60s,” Khan said.

Khan tells CBS News Philadelphia he’s also still working to have the home recognized on both the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places.

“As the MLK House begins to rise, I believe the whole neighborhood will rise, and I believe other businesses will come in here,” Khan said.