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 St. Paul United Methodist Church Posted by:  QuesterMark
N 32° 47.519 W 096° 47.786
14S E 706350 N 3630376
This subject marker is mounted on a post in front of the church, on Routh St, a little southeast of the Woodall Rogers freeway, in Dallas.
Waymark Code: WMMY8T
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/22/2014
Views: 29
Marker erected by the Texas Historical Commission.
Texas Historical Commission Atlas data:
Address: 1816 Routh St
City: Dallas
County: Dallas
Year Marker Erected: 2013
Marker Location: Northeast side of Routh St, a little southeast of Woodall Rogers Freeway
Marker Size: 27" x 42"
An Historic Marker Dedication and Unveiling Ceremony was held at 12 noon on Saturday, November 22, 2014 to unveil and dedicate this marker.
Marker Number: 17802
Marker Text:
In 1873, several inhabitants of Freedman's Town, a community of recently freed people just north of the Dallas city limits, met with Methodist Ministers Rev. H. Oliver and Rev. William Bush under a brush arbor to organize the area's first African American Methodist Episcopal Church. Oliver became St. Paul's first pastor. Dallas Postmaster Anthony Norton donated the first church site upon which the congregation built a small frame sanctuary, which was also used as a school for African American children. In partnership with the Perkins School of Theology, the church provided training for African American ministers. Samuel Huston College (later Huston-Tillotson University), organized in 1876, held its first classes at the church.
In 1901, the congregation began constructing a new brick-clad sanctuary by digging and finishing a concrete basement, called "Noah's Ark," where services were held during the 26 years it took to complete the sanctuary. Construction proceeded fitfully as material became available. Tradition holds that the façade has five different shades of brown brick because, for many years, parishioners brought bricks for the offering. Finally completed in 1927 under the leadership of Pastor George Deslandes, the sanctuary cost $80,000. The Gothic Revival style was derived from a design by William Sidney Pittman, Dallas' first African American architect. Although around 1950 highway construction began to demolish the North Dallas neighborhoods served by the church, St. Paul endured as a political, cultural and spiritual center under the leadership of Pastor I.B. Loud (1948-1980) and his successors.
2013
Marker is Property of the State of Texas
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