Bethel Salter A.M.E. Church
Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Salter Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in Cleburne in 1887 by the Goodwin and Sims families, with help from Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Fort Worth, and was named for Bishop Moses B. Salter (1841-1913). The first church building was built on East Chambers Street, followed by a sanctuary erected on Brazos Street in 1918. The Sanctuary was relocated here in 1926 on land donated by the Charles Alexander family with funding help from the Grand Lodge Colored Knights of Pythias of Texas. A community church was formed in Oak Hill south of Cleburne and formally recognized by the A.M.E. Conference of Texas in the 1940s. The church was named Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church. In 1943 a building was purchased for a sanctuary and moved to Oak Hill. Both churches had experienced a decline in membership, and officially merged into one congregation in 1988, named Bethel Salter A.M.E. Church. The aging sanctuary was torn down, and a new church building was constructed with the help of community volunteers and completed in 1992. The church continues traditional outreach programs and has as its creed "everlasting commitment to God our father, Christ our redeemer, and man our brother." (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in Cleburne in 1887 by the Goodwin and Sims families with help from Fort Worth's Allen Chapel, this African Methodist Episcopal congregation took its name from Bishop Moses B. Salter. Its sanctuary moved across town in 1926 on land donated by a local family and with support from the Colored Knights of Pythias, while a sister congregation grew in nearby Oak Hill. The two merged in 1988 as Bethel Salter A.M.E., raising a new building by community hands in 1992.
Why it matters
Black churches like this were the organizing heart of post-Reconstruction African American communities in Texas — houses of worship that doubled as schools, mutual-aid societies, and centers of self-governance.
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Related people
- · Moses B. Salter
Themes & tags
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