Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
IN 1866, FORMER SLAVE WILLIAM BURLEY CAME TO HARRISBURG TO MINISTER TO NEWLY-EMANCIPATED AFRICAN AMERICANS. HE PURCHASED PROPERTY FOR A HOME AND A CHURCH AT THE INTERSECTION OF SYCAMORE AND FENNELL STREETS ALONG THE BANKS OF BRAYS BAYOU. THE CHURCH WAS NAMED THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF HARRISBURG. THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU, A FEDERAL AGENCY DEDICATED TO HELPING FORMER SLAVES, SPONSORED A COMMUNITY SCHOOL ON THE CHURCH GROUNDS UNTIL 1870. THIS EARLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL WAS A PREDECESSOR OF A LATE 1800s HARRISBURG SCHOOL. THROUGHOUT THE 20TH CENTURY, THE CHURCH SERVED AS A FOCAL POINT FOR THE AREA’S BLACK COMMUNITY. THE LOVING BAND OF HOPE, A GROUP DEDICATED TO ASSISTING HARRISBURG’S AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESIDENTS, OFTEN CONVENED ON CHURCH GROUNDS. THE CONGREGATION MODIFIED ITS NAME SEVERAL TIMES, FIRST CHANGING TO TRINITY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF HARRISBURG IN 1900 TO DISTINGUISH ITSELF FROM ANOTHER CONGREGATION. IN 1926, WHEN HOUSTON ANNEXED HARRISBURG, THE CHURCH BECAME ASBURY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, IN HONOR OF NOTED BISHOP FRANCIS ASBURY. IN 1929, THE CHURCH MOVED TO 215 MEDINA STREET AND IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS ADDED ADDITIONAL PROPERTY. ADDITIONAL NAME CHANGES OCCURRED IN 1939 AND IN 1968, WHEN THE INSTITUTION BECAME KNOWN AS ASBURY MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. NOTED MEMBERS INCLUDED SAVANNAH GEORGIA KAY, A CIVIC LEADER WHO MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION IN HARRISBURG; TOM BLUE, WHO WAS A FORMER SLAVE OF SAM HOUSTON’S; AND WILSON BURLEY, WHO SERVED IN THE 84TH U.S. COLORED INFANTRY DURING THE CIVIL WAR. TODAY, ASBURY MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH CONTINUES TO SERVE AS A SPIRITUAL LEADER IN HOUSTON. (2009)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1866, freedman William Burley came to Harrisburg to minister to newly emancipated African Americans, buying land along Brays Bayou for a home and a church that became the Methodist Episcopal Church of Harrisburg. The Freedmen's Bureau sponsored a community school on the grounds until 1870, an early Black public school for the area, and the congregation grew into a focal point of Black community life. Through renamings that reflected its history, it became Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church, and its members included Civil War veteran Wilson Burley of the 84th U.S. Colored Infantry and Tom Blue, once enslaved by Sam Houston.
Why it matters
The church embodies the Reconstruction-era surge of Black churches and schools that gave freedpeople their first institutions of worship, education, and self-government.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Burley
- · Wilson Burley
- · Tom Blue
- · Francis Asbury
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fidelity Schools
Galena Park, TX
By 1922, the African American children of the Clinton community—renamed Galena Park in 1936—attended a small school, and in the early 1930s a building once used by white students was moved to the Fidelity Addition and reopened for Black pupils. As the community grew, so did Fidelity School, which added high school courses in 1950 and split into Fidelity Manor Elementary and High School by the mid-1950s. Its students won championships and produced educators, veterans, and political leaders. Desegregation closed both schools in 1970, and the buildings were razed in 1986.
George Washington Carver High School
Baytown, TX
This site tells the story of Black education in Baytown, beginning in 1921 with the Goose Creek School for Coloreds, whose classes met partly in Mt. Rose Baptist Church. Renamed in 1940 for the scientist and educator George Washington Carver and accredited as a four-year high school in 1941, Carver became one of the state's top segregated schools, winning nine state band titles and eight athletic championships in the Prairie View Interscholastic League. The high school closed in 1967 as desegregation ended the era of separate Black schools, but the Carver name still anchors education in the community.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Houston, TX
This Houston monument honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Baptist minister who became the moral voice of the American civil rights movement. Born in Atlanta in 1929, King led the nonviolent campaigns—bus boycotts, marches, and freedom rides—that dismantled legal segregation before his assassination in 1968. His words and example transformed the nation's conscience.
Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Houston, TX
Since the late 1800s, the congregation of Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church has anchored Houston's Greater Third Ward, tracing its roots to a brush-arbor meeting led by the Rev. Gilbert Green. Founded as Little Zion, the church grew alongside a Black community whose members often worked low-paying jobs, and it steadily turned its energy outward. Under the Rev. Moses Leonard Price, its longest-serving pastor (1938–1984), it opened a kindergarten, funded scholarships, and ran summer tutoring. Members have since run food pantries and built affordable homes.