St. Emily Methodist Church
Baytown, Chambers County, Texas
Marker Inscription
According to oral tradition, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Old River was already located on this site when Mrs. Emily Brown, a midwife and mother of seven who had been born a slave in 1845, inherited the land from her employer. Emily deeded an acre of land to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which included her husband Thompson Brown, in 1881. A short time later the church was renamed St. Emily in honor of her service to both the white and black communities of West Chambers County. St. Emily was the only African American church in the Old River community for many years; the white frame structure served as both church and school. One Sunday a month, when the preacher came, families brought baskets of food for the daylong event. Remodeled in 1946, the original building served the congregation for over 95 years. In 1976, after extensive fundraising efforts, construction began on a new sanctuary which was consecrated in 1978. A fellowship hall was completed in 1986. Renamed St. Emily United Methodist Church in 1970, the congregation continues its long tradition of worship and service through such programs as a health and welfare ministry and a high education department. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Emily Brown, a midwife born into slavery in 1845, inherited this land from her employer and in 1881 deeded an acre to the trustees of the local Methodist Episcopal church—among them her husband, Thompson Brown. The congregation renamed the church St. Emily in honor of her service to both Black and white communities of West Chambers County. For decades it stood as the only African American church in the Old River community, serving as both house of worship and schoolhouse.
Why it matters
St. Emily testifies to the way formerly enslaved women like Emily Brown built enduring institutions of faith and education for their communities in the generation after emancipation.
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Related people
- · Emily Brown
- · Thompson Brown
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Emily Brown Cemetery
Mont Belvieu, TX
In 1870 Elizabeth Barrow deeded a house and 198 acres to Thompson and Emily Brown in return for her care in old age—an arrangement that gave the formerly enslaved couple land of their own just years after emancipation. Emily served as a midwife to families across the area, and in 1881 the Browns donated ground to the Old River Methodist Episcopal Church, from which this cemetery grew. The congregation later renamed itself St. Emily in her honor and still tends the graves of the Brown family.
Black Education in Chambers County
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When the 1869 Texas Constitution called for public schools open to Black and white children, the Freedmen's Bureau helped build a one-room schoolhouse for African Americans at Wallisville, one of the county's first. Over the following decades Black schools spread to Double Bayou, Turtle Bayou, and other communities, their sessions lasting only as long as families could pay a teacher, and children in Anahuac attended classes at St. James Methodist Church. Segregated high schools like George Washington Carver served older students until desegregation was completed in 1966.
George Washington Carver High School
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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.
Fidelity Schools
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