St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church

African Methodism reached Texas only after emancipation, because the AME Church was not permitted to operate in Texas or most of the slaveholding South. Its first missionary there, M. M. Clark, arrived in Galveston in 1866, hoping to bring in Black Methodists who had worshipped in their enslavers' churches. The first Texas conference met in Galveston on October 22, 1868, and the West Texas Conference followed in 1875. Membership reached 23,000 by 1890. The denomination itself began with Richard Allen's protest at a Philadelphia church in 1787 and was organized as the AME Church in 1816.

What the plaque says

St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church ST. PAUL'S AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH Following the civil war and emancipation, the small but vibrant black population around Moulton began to be served by missionaries of a newly formed offshoot of the Methodist Church called the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. In 1867, Reverend E. Hammitt became the first Black AME minister in the county, riding a large circuit that included Moulton. In 1887, the modern-day city of Moulton was laid out and founded by Samuel and William Moore. At that time, the brothers donated a plot of land to the city's black population in the southeastern part of Moulton. On this land, the faithful erected a small one-room church. Often referred to as Moore's chapel by many locals, the little church nourished the religious needs of the black community. Following the end of World War I, the church became the African American school for the community. More space was needed so, in 1921, the church trustees purchased land and erected a new building for the church and school. Although the space offered few amenities, the congregation flourished here for decades. In 1948, the Moulton Independent School District built a new school for the district's black children. Due to disrepair, hurricane and flood damage, a new church was built in 1962 under the leadership of Rev. W.O. Johnson and Joseph Parker. After several more decades of faithful religious and community service, the migration to urban areas caused the membership of the church to decline. St. Paul's AME Church reluctantly closed its doors in 2007. Although the church is no longer in operation, its 120 years of service as a spiritual beacon will remain in the hearts of the community. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. Mary's Church of the Assumption (Praha) — 8.3 mi
  The mother parish of the Czech settlements around Flatonia, a stone-fronted church of 1895 whose ceiling Gottfried Flury turned into a turquoise garden, with an August 15 feast since 1855.
• Spoetzl Brewery — 9.4 mi
  The brewery a Czech and German railroad town started in a tin shed in 1909, run through Prohibition by a Bavarian who had brewed in Cairo, and then by his daughter.
• Lavaca County Courthouse — 15 mi
  A limestone Romanesque courthouse of 1897-99 on the square of a town founded by a widow trader, in a county seat that once printed the Socialist Party's state paper.
• Nativity of Mary, Blessed Virgin Catholic Church (High Hill) — 16 mi
  A red brick Gothic Revival church of 1906 in a German farm settlement, where two San Antonio painters spent 1912 faking marble columns and stone vaults on wood.

More markers nearby

• Adolph Hofner — 0.5 mi
• Moulton — 0.7 mi
• Moulton's World War II Observation Tower — 0.8 mi
• Cotton Grove Dance Floor and Store — 2.5 mi