Wilson Chapel Methodist Church

In 1870 Madisonville had ninety-eight residents, only nine of them Black, while the county was roughly thirty percent Black. Wilson Chapel's founders of 1873 met in homes and a brush arbor, with an exhorter preaching when no minister came. The Handbook marks other early steps for Black townspeople: a State Police company posted in the early 1870s, a first Black school built in 1880 and the first Black church building in 1888. Then the town changed: Madisonville's Black population rose from 142 in 1940 to 927 in 1948 as families left rural parts of the county.

What the plaque says

Wilson Chapel Methodist Church Organized in 1873 by the Rev. W. A. Parks and ten charter members, the Methodist Episcopal Church was the second African American church in Madisonville. Early worship services were held in members' homes and a brush arbor. In the absence of a minister, sermons were given by a member called an exhorter. Land was donated by Ed and Mary Burrell in 1888, and the first sanctuary was erected here in 1891. A white frame building replaced it in 1923. A brick structure was built in the 1960s. The church has served the area for more than 120 years. (1994)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Boggy State Park — 17 mi
  A 1,847-acre park in Leon County named for a settlers' palisade of 1840, with a 15-acre lake, short trails and the story of Tennessee farmers, the Keechi and a Ranger captain.
• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum — 35 mi
  The library of the forty-first president on the Texas A&M campus, opened in 1997, where George and Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin are buried in a family plot on the grounds.

More markers nearby

• Marian Anderson High School — steps away
• CCC Camp Site — 0.5 mi
• Truman Kimbro — 0.5 mi
• Thomas Beck — 0.5 mi