Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Greenville, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in the turmoil of the reconstruction era, Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has been a strong supporter of its community since 1879. After the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, many formerly enslaved African Americans attempted to escape the violence that ensued by forming loose-knit communities among unwanted lands, such as Center Point in Hunt County. Some of the earliest freedmen to gather in the thickets near Center Point were Charlie C. Haley, Henry Polk, and Henry H. Brown along with their families. As they survived in homes and in the woods, Haley led the group in religious meetings. Around 1870 ordained minister and Elder Andrew Jackson (A.J.) Hurdle moved his growing family from a freedom colony near Mount Vernon to Center Point. By 1879 Hurdle and Haley organized a church known as Center Point Christian Church in the middle of the thickets with hurdle as its first minister. In 1900, Hurdle was elected president of the Northeast Texas Christian Missionary Convention. The mission of the group was to serve African American members of the Christian Church and its primary focus was to create a college. Several members of the church were active in the group and were a part of the faculty at Northeast Texas Christian Theological and Industrial College in Anderson County. Over the years, the congregation has had a record for its ability and willingness to build new church buildings debt-free. As an early congregation organized in a freedom colony, Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is proud of its heritage. Offering protection from reconstruction violence, the church has always supported education, jobs, homes and families. (2017)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born amid the violence and upheaval of Reconstruction, Center Point Christian Church grew from the survival of formerly enslaved families who gathered in the thickets of Hunt County on land no one else wanted. Charlie Haley led early religious meetings until, in 1879, he and the ordained elder Andrew Jackson Hurdle organized a congregation in the middle of those thickets, with Hurdle as its first minister. The church became a pillar of its freedom colony — championing education, jobs, and homes, and even helping staff a Black theological and industrial college — and made a point of building its meeting houses debt-free.
Why it matters
It shows how the Black church anchored the freedom colonies of the post-emancipation South, offering not just worship but protection, schooling, and self-determination when little else was on offer.
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Related people
- · Andrew Jackson (A.J.) Hurdle
- · Charlie C. Haley
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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