St. Paul United Methodist Church

The congregation's beginnings in Paine Chapel matched a pattern across the South. In 1866 the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, meeting in New Orleans, empowered its bishops to organize Black members into separate congregations, conferences and districts with their own preachers. By 1870 Black Methodists had formed five annual conferences and asked for a church of their own, and that December the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Jackson, Tennessee. Its first Texas church was at Marshall, and in 1894 it founded Texas College at Tyler.

What the plaque says

St. Paul United Methodist Church Organized in 1866, St. Paul United Methodist Church was the first established for African Americans in San Antonio. Its origins were in Paine Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South, which many of the founding members attended prior to emancipation. In 1866, the Rev. A. Larkin Carper began conducting services in the homes of San Antonio's Black families. Paine Chapel soon deeded him a building and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was founded. With the Freedmen's Bureau, members established the Lincoln School for African-American students in 1866. Members built a frame building in 1872 on land donated by church member McDaniel Webster; a stone structure replaced it in 1884. The area surrounding church property became known as St. Paul Square. The current sanctuary was completed in 1922. St. Paul first focused on community work through a Benevolent Society. The congregation also played a major role in the civil rights movement in San Antonio. The Rev. Mack Henson became a well-known voice for equality in the late 1800s. Dr. Green J. Starnes and other members continued the work in the early 20th century, focusing on education, health and social justice. In the 1940s, the church established St. Paul House, which provided meeting space and housing for travelers unable to find adequate hotels due to segregation. In 1951, trustees purchased the former Brackenridge Colored School building, which became a community educational complex. In 1967, the name of the congregation became St. Paul United Methodist Church as a result of the United Methodist merger. Members have continued to aid the needy in the community and have focused on working with children. Today, St. Paul United Methodist Church remains a vital link to San Antonio's African-American history, while serving as a spiritual leader. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Alamo — 0.7 mi
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.
• La Villita Historic Arts Village — 0.8 mi
  The little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.
• San Antonio River Walk — 0.8 mi
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 1.2 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings — 0.3 mi
• John Lang Sinclair — 0.4 mi
• Clara Driscoll (April 2, 1881-July 17, 1945) — 0.4 mi
• Simona Smith Fisk — 0.4 mi