Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
As Houston's Third Ward neighborhood developed, the Rev. James Harvey Makey (1849-1915) called neighbors to his home in 1879 to form the Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church. Makey, a member of Antioch Baptist Church, found guidance from Antioch's pastor, the noted Rev. John Henry "Jack" Yates. Rev. Makey and Deacon Clarence Young constructed a small frame church building in 1884. Makey and his wife, Jeanette, served the congregation for many years. Other early leaders included Brother Henry Thomas, the first Sunday School superintendent, as well as Deacons Joe McConico, David Thompson, and Willie Hogan. Members held revivals in the spring and conducted baptisms on Easter Sunday in Buffalo Bayou. In 1917, the growing congregation purchased this site for a new sanctuary. The Rev. Joseph Patience Churchwell became pastor in 1928 and served until his death in January 1957. During his years of leadership the congregation developed many programs, including evangelism, twelve Mission Circles, men's chorus, youth council and various boards and groups. His wife and daughter were also active in building the congregation's services. In 1954, also during Churchwell's pastorate, members constructed a new sanctuary. Church members called the Rev. David Leon Everett, II to serve as pastor in 1957, and he served until his death in 1990. Under his guidance the church initiated community outreach activities and participated in various Baptist networks. More than 1,500 members joined during his time as pastor. Today, Jerusalem Missionary Baptist congregation continues to uphold the standards set by its strong leaders, playing an active role in community life. The church has met at this location since its founding in the Rev. Makey's home. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Houston's Third Ward took shape after the Civil War, the Rev. James Harvey Makey gathered neighbors in his home in 1879 to found the Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, drawing guidance from the prominent Antioch pastor John Henry "Jack" Yates. A small frame sanctuary rose in 1884, and the congregation baptized new members in Buffalo Bayou each Easter. Through the long pastorates of Joseph Patience Churchwell and David Leon Everett II, the church grew into a hub of worship, mission circles, and community outreach that has remained on this ground since its founding.
Why it matters
Black churches like Jerusalem were the organizing centers of African American community life after emancipation, offering worship, education, and mutual support when few other institutions welcomed them.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Houston's Third Ward took shape in the years after the Civil War, as emancipated Black Texans left the countryside and gathered in the growing city to build new lives on their own terms. Freedom was real, but it was hedged in on every side — by poverty, by the collapse of Reconstruction's promises, and by the hardening lines of segregation that would soon define the Jim Crow South.
In that setting, the institutions a community built for itself carried enormous weight. Chief among them was the church. Where public life offered little welcome, a congregation offered belonging, leadership, education, and mutual aid. It was often the first thing a neighborhood built and the last thing it would let go.
The founding of Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in 1879 belongs to that great wave of institution-building. It began not in a sanctuary but in a home — the most ordinary of settings turned into the seedbed of something meant to endure.
People & events
It started with an invitation. In 1879 the Rev. James Harvey Makey called his neighbors into his own home and, together, they formed a congregation. Makey was a member of Antioch Baptist Church, and he drew guidance from Antioch's pastor, the widely respected Rev. John Henry "Jack" Yates — a mentorship that connected the young church to the deep roots of Black Baptist life in Houston.
In 1884 Makey and Deacon Clarence Young built a small frame church, and the community filled it with the rhythms of faith. Makey and his wife, Jeanette, served for many years, alongside early leaders like Sunday School superintendent Henry Thomas and Deacons Joe McConico, David Thompson, and Willie Hogan. Spring revivals and Easter-morning baptisms in Buffalo Bayou marked the turning of the congregation's year.
As the church grew, its story became a relay of devoted pastors. In 1917 the congregation bought this site for a new sanctuary. The Rev. Joseph Patience Churchwell led from 1928 until his death in 1957, building mission circles, choruses, and youth work, and overseeing a new sanctuary in 1954. The Rev. David Leon Everett II followed, serving until 1990 and welcoming more than 1,500 members while launching community outreach. Through it all, the congregation has worshiped on the ground where Makey first gathered his neighbors.
Its place in the American story
The story of Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church is the story of the Black church in America, told in one Houston neighborhood. After emancipation, when schools, banks, and civic offices were largely closed to African Americans, the church stepped into every gap. It was sanctuary and schoolhouse, meeting hall and mutual-aid society, the place where leaders were formed and community decisions were made.
The details here echo across the nation. Baptisms in a natural waterway like Buffalo Bayou were a common rite before congregations could afford baptisteries, linking Texas believers to a practice as old as the faith itself. The long, stable pastorates — decades at a time — gave communities continuity and moral authority in an era that offered them little of either from the wider society.
Institutions like this one laid the groundwork for the century to come. The organizing capacity, the networks, and the leadership that Black churches nurtured after the Civil War became, generations later, part of the foundation on which the modern struggle for civil rights was built.
If you visit
Stand at the site and hold two thoughts at once: this is where the congregation put down roots for a permanent home in 1917, and it is also, in a deeper sense, where the church has always been — for it traces its beginning to a neighbor's living room nearby in 1879. Few institutions can claim to have stayed so faithfully in one community for so long.
The Third Ward around you is one of Houston's historic centers of African American life, and this church is one of its anchoring landmarks. As you look at the sanctuary, remember the arc the marker records: a small frame building of 1884, a new sanctuary in 1954, generations of members added along the way.
If your travels take you through Houston's historic Black neighborhoods, a church like this one rewards a slow, respectful pause. It is a living congregation, so let the visit be quiet and considerate — you are looking at more than a building. You are looking at nearly a century and a half of a community keeping faith with itself.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Rev. James Harvey Makey
- · Rev. John Henry "Jack" Yates
- · Rev. Joseph Patience Churchwell
- · Rev. David Leon Everett II
Themes & tags
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