HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Black Jack Methodist Church and Cemetery

Walker County, Walker County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Settlement of this area began in the 1830s. Black Jack Methodist Church was organized in 1871 and a sanctuary was built about four miles west of this site. The congregation moved here in 1886, and land for a new sanctuary and cemetery was given by Mrs. Sophronia Jane Warren. Trustees of the new church were Henry Lee Taylor, A. W. McKenzie, and Stephen Johnson. The first burial in the cemetery occurred in 1887. The church was also used as a community school until 1916. Regular church services were discontinued during the Great Depression.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Settlement of this part of Walker County began in the 1830s, and Black Jack Methodist Church was organized in 1871, moving to this site in 1886 on land donated by Sophronia Jane Warren. A cemetery opened here in 1887, and the building doubled as the community's school until 1916. Regular services ended during the Great Depression, leaving the church and its graves as the settlement's memorial.

Why it matters

Black Jack shows how a single rural building often served frontier Texans as church, school, and cemetery all at onceβ€”the shared heart of a farming community.

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Related people

  • Β· Sophronia Jane Warren
  • Β· Henry Lee Taylor

Themes & tags

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