Mt. Zion United Methodist Church

The building on High Street is younger than the congregation. The National Register nomination says Mt. Zion organized in 1877 as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, lost its first building on Third Street to the 1900 storm, and moved into the present frame church in June 1921, built with money from J. C. Giddings of the Brenham Mercantile Company. Its pointed-arch windows and belfry make it the only historic Black-congregation church in Brenham to keep its architectural integrity. The neighborhood was first called Watrousville, later Watersville.

What the plaque says

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church After emancipation in 1865, African American families settled on the west-side of Brenham and established Watersville. In 1877, Reverend J.R. Smith conducted services under a brush arbor and the congregation became known as Mt. Zion Colored Episcopal Methodist Church. In March 1878, land was purchased on this site and the church constructed. During the 1920s, the church became known as Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1926, because of high damaging winds the church was rebuilt minus the basement. A new fellowship hall was dedicated on June 3, 1984. The church stands on what is known as Heritage Corner and, in 1990, entered into the National Register of Historic Places. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 11 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Round Top and Festival Hill — 19 mi
  A German village on the old La Bahía Road, named for a house tower, with an 1867 stone church, a Fourth of July kept since 1851 and a concert hall a pianist built without blueprints.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 19 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Star of the Republic Museum — 19 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.

More markers nearby

• St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church — 0.4 mi
• The Brenham Maifest — 0.6 mi
• Texas Confederate County Commissioners Court — 0.6 mi
• Washington County, C.S.A. — 0.7 mi