Minnie (Washington) Yates

The town the Yateses chose had begun in 1886 as a switch on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. First called Marcelina, it was renamed in 1901 when A. H. Poth established a cotton gin there; John Francis Stortz had opened a store the year before. A depot followed in 1906, and by 1914 Poth had a lumberyard, a gin, a bank, a furniture and hardware store, a blacksmith, three general stores and 250 residents. The population reached 600 by 1947, 1,119 by 1965 and 1,850 by 2000.

What the plaque says

Minnie (Washington) Yates (October 25, 1878 - November 17, 1970) Following the Civil War and despite the turbulent times that continued for African Americans, many overcame obstacles to create better opportunities for themselves and their families. The ownership of land, a goal that symbolized freedom, was a sought-after dream for many, including Minnie (Washington) Yates (1878-1970) and her husband, R.C. Yates (1875-1945). Minnie was one of five children of James Washington (1858-1955) and Ella (Hall) Washington (1856-1950), freed former slaves of the Navarro County and Gonzales County Jones Plantation. Around the turn of the century, Minnie and R.C. Yates moved from Morales (Jackson Co.) to settle in Poth, where they purchased approximately 100 acres of lanf. As in many Freedmen's colonies and African American communities, education and religion were integral to survival and success. In 1916, Minnie and R.C. moved an old schoolhouse from Dewees to their property. This facility became home to Mount Moriah Baptist Church and a community school. As a graduate of Guadalupe College in Seguin, and African American college which opened in 1887, Minnie Yates understood the importance of education and sought to instruct her eleven children and others in the area. She successfully recruited her friend, Myrtle Love (Brown) Everage (1904-1989), to teach at the school. Everage went on to become a school principal with a long career in education before her retirement. Minnie and R.C. Yates are remembered as influential settlers in the Poth area, working tirelessly to promote community through education and encouragement. (2020)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission Espada and the Espada Aqueduct — 29 mi
  The southernmost San Antonio mission and the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States, still carrying river water over Sixmile Creek to the fields after nearly three centuries.
• Mission San Juan — 29 mi
  The mission near the river bend where the San Antonio got its name in 1691, with an unfinished church foundation and farm fields still watered by an eighteenth-century acequia.
• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park — 32 mi
  Four working parish churches on the Mission Trail south of downtown, with the visitor center at Mission San Jose, the Queen of the Missions, and the descendants who still worship there.
• Mission Concepción — 34 mi
  A stone church dedicated in 1755 that has never fallen into ruin, its convento ceilings still painted, and the ground where the Texas Revolution's fight for San Antonio began.

More markers nearby

• Texas Ranger and Sheriff Capt. Will L. Wright — 6.0 mi
• St. Ann's Catholic Church — 6.6 mi
• Wilson County — 6.8 mi
• James Charles Wilson — 6.8 mi