DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This is Duane, and this is the story of Wesley United Methodist Church. Now, every now and then you come across a place that carries the full weight of history — not just the bright parts, but the hard ones too.
Wesley United Methodist Church is one of those places. The story begins at the end of the Civil War. Austin's freedmen — men and women who had just crossed out of bondage into something new and uncertain — needed a congregation of their own.
And somebody had to take the first step toward building it. Two men answered that call. The Reverend Joseph Welch, a white Methodist missionary, and the Reverend Isaac Wright, a black minister of the Methodist Church, North.
Two men, two traditions, one shared purpose. Now, here's the part that'll settle heavy on you if you let it. Those first meetings — the very first gatherings of this new congregation of free people — were held in the basement of the Tenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
And many of the folks who walked down into that basement had attended that same church as slaves. Same building. Different world, now.
You sit with that for a moment. In 1867, the congregation built its first home — a stone sanctuary at Ninth and Neches streets. Stone walls.
Dirt floor. But it was theirs. That matters more than any finishing touch ever could.
The congregation kept growin', kept reachin'. By 1882 they raised a new edifice — a place that earned itself a name worth savin': Old Wesley on the Hill. That site served the congregation for decades, all the way until 1929, when the church moved to the facilities right here, the very spot where this marker stands.
And what this congregation built over all those years is something. One of the leading black churches in Texas — that's not a small thing to say, and this church earned every syllable of it. Church facilities were used for classes of Samuel Huston College.
The West Texas Methodist Conference held its formal organization here. Community projects, mission work, educational leadership — Wesley has had a hand in all of it. Started in a basement by freed people and two determined reverends, built first in stone on a dirt floor, then on a hill, then here — and still growin'.
That's not just a church. That's a testament. And the marker says it plain: the programs and dramatic growth of Wesley United Methodist Church continue to reflect the ideals and religious dedication of its founders.
Some foundations, turns out, hold forever.
What the marker says
This congregation was established at the end of the Civil War for freedmen of the Austin area. It was begun through the efforts of the Rev. Joseph Welch, a white Methodist missionary, and the Rev. Isaac Wright, a black minister of the Methodist Church, North. The original meetings were conducted in the basement of the Tenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which many of this congregation's early members had attended as slaves. The first building for the Wesley United Methodist Church (Wesley Chapel Church) was a stone sanctuary with a dirt floor built in 1867 at Ninth and Neches streets. A new edifice, known as "Old Wesley on the Hill", was constructed in 1882. The Site served the congregation until 1929, when the church moved to new facilities here. One of the leading black churches in Texas, this congregation has actively participated in community projects, mission work and educational leadership. Church facilities have been used for classes of Samuel Huston College and for formal organization of the West Texas Methodist Conference. The church's programs and dramatic growth continue to reflect the ideals and religious dedication of its founders. (1982)