Westside Black Enclaves

St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church began, by one account, in 1867, meeting in homes and rented rooms, and in February 1873 bought the old Menger soap works on San Pedro Creek with a $2,000 loan. The building was doubled in 1875, and the congregation moved to a larger one about half a mile away in 1877. The old building later became an ice house and was gone by 1905. In 2020 crews widening the creek struck its limestone foundation and then found the 1875 cornerstone.

What the plaque says

Westside Black Enclaves San Antonio's black population can be traced back to the city's earliest days. Presidial soldiers included many of African and American Indian ancestry. Later, Canary Islanders would bring their North African Berber culture with them. In 1876, out of a population of 17,214, some 2,075 citizens were recorded as "African." Black communities settled in small enclaves throughout the city, including a sizable number west of the San Antonio River. By 1885, the city's Second Ward, which included that portion west of the San Antonio River and north of Commerce Street, was largely populated by black citizens. Primarily residential, the area was anchored by significant community institutions. St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church began in 1868 in a soap factory along San Pedro Creek, and has played a prominent role in the spiritual, social and civic lives of the neighborhood's residents. The early members were emancipated African Americans. The church moved to its present location on Richter Street in 1928. The exciting West End Baptist Church, founded in 1905, also served the growing black population. Ella Austin (1856-1902), a prominent community leader, first opened an orphans' home near this site, at 926 West Houston Street, in 1890 before moving to a larger facility on the city's eastside. Black children attended the Bishop Grant School on N. Leona. Krisch Hall, a German-owned business located at Houston and Flores, hosted black organizations such as the Lonestar Literary Society, the Glee Club and community gatherings. Over time, San Antonio's westside transitioned to a Latino cultural center, African American families and institutions became concentrated on the eastside, and many historic residences were replaced by commercial buildings. Still, the near westside is home to many African Americans and remains an important example of the city's layers of history and cultural diversity. (2016)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 0.5 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• Spanish Governor's Palace — 0.6 mi
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 0.7 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.
• San Antonio River Walk — 1.0 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.

More markers nearby

• Benjamin Rush Milam — 0.3 mi
• Emma Tenayuca — 0.4 mi
• Italian American Community in San Antonio — 0.4 mi
• San Pedro Creek — 0.5 mi