St. James United Methodist Church of Huntsville

Joshua Houston, named among the church's first trustees, was born in 1822 and raised in slavery on Temple Lea's plantation in Alabama. After Lea's death in 1834 he passed to Margaret Lea, who took him to Texas in 1840 when she married Sam Houston. He became a blacksmith, wheelwright and stage driver and was taught to read and write. On January 15, 1866, he bought land in Huntsville and opened a blacksmith shop. He served as city alderman and as county commissioner, and he died on January 8, 1902.

What the plaque says

St. James United Methodist Church of Huntsville This congregation was organized shortly after the Civil War to serve the newly freed slaves of the Huntsville area. The earliest worship services were conducted in 1868 in the Union Church building at this site. The sanctuary, located on land donatd by local French merchant John Courtade, was shared with a Baptist fellowship. Straughter Hume, Joshua Houston, William Baines, W. Fayle, and William Sinclair, the first trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, purchased the Union Church building in the 1870s. Also known as the Freedmen's Church, the original membership included Solomon Jones, Jeff Lockhart, John Clark, Mary Baines, Sarah Smithers, Harriet Hendricks, Eliza Jones, Kizziah Lacy, and others. For many years the structure also served as a schoolhouse. Some of the teachers were Lizzie Stone, Texana Snow, Jacob Cozier, O. A. Todd, and Mollie Flood. A new wooden sanctuary with a belfry was constructed at this site in 1894. Under the leadership of The Rev. Lee of Navasota, the first black presiding elder, the church experienced a period of considerable growth. Since 1868 St. James United Methodist Church has played a significant role in the development of Huntsville. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 30 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• Huntsville Branch Railway, "Tilley's Tap" — steps away
• Sallie E. Gibbs — steps away
• Henry Opera House — 0.2 mi
• The Five Courthouses of Walker County — 0.2 mi