Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church

The building the congregation worships in is as notable as its history. Allen Chapel went up in 1912 to 1914 in a Tudor Gothic Revival style, with a bell tower, stained glass and a pressed-metal ceiling. The Handbook of Texas credits its design to W. Sidney Pittman, the first practicing Black architect in Texas and the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington, and lists it among five of his known works still standing in 2020. The sanctuary seats about 1,350, and an Estey pipe organ installed in 1923 is still part of its worship.

What the plaque says

Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church The oldest and largest African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Worth. This church organization was organized about 1870 by the Rev. Moody, pioneer circuit rider, and five area settlers. Members met in homes until facilities were built at this site soon after it was purchased in 1878. The name Allen was adopted as part of the congregational title in 1879 to honor Richard Allen, a former slave who became the first Bishop of the A.M.E. faith. Led by 29 pastors in over a century of service, Allen Chapel has played a significant role in Fort Worth's development. (1982)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tarrant County Courthouse — 0.4 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 2.3 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 2.4 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 2.6 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.

More markers nearby

• Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 2144 — 0.3 mi
• Eastern Cattle Trail — 0.4 mi
• Paddock Viaduct — 0.4 mi
• Fort Worth "Where the West Begins" — 0.4 mi