Kelsey Memorial Methodist Church (Iglesia Metodista Kelsey Memorial)

The first pastor, Alejo Hernández, has his own story. Born in 1842 to a wealthy Mexican family and sent to college for the priesthood, he left in 1862 to fight the French invasion and was captured. He escaped to the Texas border, was converted by Methodists in Brownsville, and was ordained in 1871 as the first Methodist of Mexican descent. Bishop Keener sent him to open a mission in Mexico City in 1873. A stroke ended that work, and he returned to Corpus Christi, where he died on September 27, 1875. He is buried in Old Bayview Cemetery.

What the plaque says

Kelsey Memorial Methodist Church (Iglesia Metodista Kelsey Memorial) This church was established in 1872 by Bishop John C. Keener. The Rev. Alejo Hernandez served as the first pastor. The church prospered then faltered during the Mexican revolution and depression but survived to become the Iglesia Metodista by the late 1930's. With financial help from Anna Marietta Kelsey (1863-1953) the church built a new sanctuary here, and on July 4, 1948, was renamed Kelsey Memorial Methodist Church in memory of Anna's parents, John and Amanda Kelsey, noted early Corpus Christi residents. Kelsey Memorial United Methodist Church continues to serve the Hispanic community. Esta iglesia fue establecida en 1872 por el Obispo John C. Keener. El Rdo. Alejo Hernandez fue el primer pastor. La iglesia florecio despues decayo, debido a la revolucion Mexicana y la depresion, pero sobrevivio y para los fines de los 1930's fue conocida como la Iglesia Metodista. Con la ayuda financiera de Anna Marietta Kelsey (1863-1953) la iglesia edifico un santuario nuevo y en el 4 de Julio de 1948, fue renombrada Kelsey Memorial Iglesia Metodista en memoria de los padres de Anna, John y Amanda Kelsey, residentes notables anteriormente de Corpus Christi. Kelsey Memorial Iglesia Metodista Unida continua sirviendo a comunidad Hispana. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mirador de la Flor — 1.1 mi
  Corpus Christi's bayfront memorial to Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Tejano singer from this city, killed in 1995 at twenty-three, visited by about thirty thousand people a year.
• Art Museum of South Texas — 1.5 mi
  Philip Johnson's 1972 museum on the Corpus Christi bayfront, joined in 2006 by Ricardo Legorreta's Miller Wing, holding more than 2,000 works mostly from Texas and the Americas.
• Texas State Aquarium — 1.7 mi
  A nonprofit aquarium on the tip of Corpus Christi Beach built around the Gulf and the Caribbean, with the largest coastal wildlife rescue center in Texas behind the exhibits.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 1.9 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.

More markers nearby

• Antonio E. Garcia — 0.2 mi
• Captain Enrique Villarreal and Rincon del Oso Land Grant — 0.3 mi
• Henry Lawrence Kinney — 0.3 mi
• Hebrew Rest Cemetery — 0.4 mi