DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. St. Paul United Methodist Church, Bexar County — this is one of those stories that starts in 1866 and just keeps going, layer after layer, like rings in an old oak.
The year is 1866. The Civil War has ended, emancipation has come, and San Antonio's Black community is finding its footing. Many of the founding members had worshipped before emancipation at Paine Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Now the Rev. A. Larkin Carper begins conducting services — not in a grand building, not yet — but in the homes of San Antonio's Black families.
That's where it starts. In somebody's front room. And Paine Chapel, to its credit, deeded Carper a building, and out of that the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was founded.
Same year, 1866, the congregation didn't stop at worship. Working alongside the Freedmen's Bureau, members established the Lincoln School for African-American students. A church and a school, born together in the same year.
That tells you something about what this community understood — that the spirit and the mind both needed tending. By 1872, members had built a frame building on land donated by a church member named McDaniel Webster. Twelve years later, in 1884, a stone structure replaced it.
The neighborhood that grew up around the church property became known as St. Paul Square — a name the place earned by what happened there. In 1922, the current sanctuary was completed.
Now, the building is one thing. The work is another. From early on, St.
Paul focused on community through a Benevolent Society. In the late 1800s, the Rev. Mack Henson became a well-known voice for equality — a man whose name carries weight even a century and a half later.
Then in the early twentieth century, Dr. Green J. Starnes and other members carried that work forward, concentrating on education, health, and social justice.
And then there's the 1940s. Segregation meant that Black travelers coming through San Antonio couldn't find adequate hotels. So what did St.
Paul do? They built St. Paul House — meeting space and housing for travelers who had nowhere else to turn.
Think about that for a moment. A church deciding that if the world won't provide a decent room, we will. In 1951, the trustees purchased the former Brackenridge Colored School building, and it became a community educational complex.
Then in 1967, as a result of the United Methodist merger, the congregation took the name it carries today — St. Paul United Methodist Church. The name changed.
The mission didn't. Members have continued to aid the needy and focused their work on children, carrying forward a thread that stretches all the way back to that first service in somebody's San Antonio home in 1866. The marker says it plainly, and plainly is enough: today, St.
Paul United Methodist Church remains a vital link to San Antonio's African-American history, while serving as a spiritual leader. One hundred and fifty-some-odd years of showing up. That's a legacy you don't summarize — you honor it.
What the marker says
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)