Shorter Chapel, A. M. E. Church

Duane's take

The way I hear it, this comes straight from the official marker for Shorter Chapel A.M.E. Church in Lee County, and I'll do my best to tell it right. Now, if you want to talk about roots, about a congregation that planted itself deep in Lee County soil and refused to let go, well, you're going to want to hear about Shorter Chapel.

It was organized in 1875, making it one of the first black churches in Giddings. That alone is worth sitting with for a moment. One of the first.

The community was building something from the ground up, and they named their congregation for a man worthy of the honor: the Reverend James A. Shorter, born 1817, died 1887, who served as the ninth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Ninth bishop.

That's a name you carry with some intention. And the people who brought this congregation to life, they had intention too. One of the founders, the Reverend Anthony Anderson, born 1843, died 1922, didn't just lend his faith to the effort.

He provided the lumber for that first church building with his own hands in the work, so to speak. You can imagine what it meant to raise those walls. But here's where the story turns, the way Texas stories sometimes do.

A storm came in 1915 and destroyed that first structure. All those boards, all that lumber the Reverend Anderson had provided, gone. And what did the congregation do?

They built again. And then again. Members today worship in the third building erected at that very same site.

Same ground, new walls, same faith running all the way back to 1875. Some things, a storm just can't move.

What the marker says

Organized in 1875, this was one of the first black churches in Giddings. The congregation was named for the Rev. James A. Shorter (1817-1887), ninth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Rev. Anthony Anderson (1843-1922), one of the founders of Shorter Chapel, provided lumber for the first church building. That structure was destroyed by a storm in 1915. Members now worship in the third building erected at this site.