Antioch Colony
Buda, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Antioch Colony was a rural farming community formed after the Civil War by a group of formerly enslaved African Americans. Although freed from slavery after the Civil War, African Americans still found it difficult to purchase land. In 1859, Anglo businessman Joseph F. Rowley purchased 490 acres in north Hays County, along Onion Creek. He began selling parcels to former slaves in 1870 at $5.00 per acre. Rowley, perhaps in an effort to protect the new landowners from losing their property, indicated in many of the deeds that the African American owners could not sell the property without Rowley’s consent. After moving to Missouri, Rowley rescinded the stipulation in 1893 but the document was not filed in Hays County until 1913. Community residents Elias and Clarisa Bunton donated property for a community school and church in 1874, and the building served as the school until 1939. The following year, the school was relocated to Black Colony Road and served Antioch until students were integrated into the Buda school system in 1961. A Baptist church and a Methodist church were organized in the community, and there was also an active Masonic lodge and Order of the Eastern Star chapter in Antioch. Antioch remained an active farm community through the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1950s, many residents had moved away in search of better employment opportunities and the community was virtually abandonded. Beginning in the 1970s former residents and their descendants began returning to Antioch, some purchasing the land that their ancestors had previously owned, and the community continues to grow. (2009)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Antioch Colony was a farming community formed after the Civil War by formerly enslaved African Americans who found it hard to buy land in freedom. Beginning in 1870, Anglo businessman Joseph Rowley sold parcels along Onion Creek to former slaves, sometimes writing restrictions into the deeds that may have been meant to protect the new owners from losing their property. Residents Elias and Clarisa Bunton donated land for a school and church in 1874, and the colony sustained Baptist and Methodist churches, a Masonic lodge, and an Eastern Star chapter until families drifted away by the 1950s; descendants have since returned to reclaim ancestral land.
Why it matters
Antioch is a rare surviving example of a Texas freedom colony, showing how emancipated African Americans built landowning communities and institutions against the odds of Reconstruction.
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Related people
- · Joseph F. Rowley
- · Elias Bunton
- · Clarisa Bunton
Themes & tags
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