St. James United Methodist Church
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of Waco's oldest churches, St.James Methodist Church was organized in 1874 by Father Anderson Brack (d. 1905). From the first worship services, conducted in a house near the Brazos River that served as a school for the black community, the congregation built several sanctuaries before completing work on this building in 1924. Designed in a modified Gothic Revival style, it features decorative brickwork, pointed arch windows,and octagonal towers. For over a century, the congregation of St. James has been active in missionary work, community service, and Christian education. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
St. James Methodist Church was organized in 1874 by Father Anderson Brack, its first worship held in a riverside house that doubled as a school for Waco's Black community. Over the following half-century the congregation built a succession of sanctuaries, completing this modified Gothic Revival building — with decorative brickwork, pointed-arch windows, and octagonal towers — in 1924. For more than a century it has anchored missionary work, service, and Christian education in the city.
Why it matters
Founded by freedpeople in the first decade after emancipation, the church stands as a monument to the way African American congregations built enduring institutions of faith, learning, and community during Reconstruction and beyond.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
St. James was founded in 1874, less than a decade after news of emancipation reached Texas in June 1865. In those early years of freedom, Black Texans worked to build lives and institutions of their own: families reunited, land and work secured where possible, and above all churches and schools.
Waco sat on the Brazos River, at the heart of a rich cotton region that had depended on enslaved labor. After the war it became a growing market town. Its famous suspension bridge across the Brazos opened in 1870 and brought travelers, cattle drives, and commerce through the city.
Reconstruction gave formerly enslaved people new legal rights, but those gains were fragile and often violently opposed. Many Black communities turned to their congregations as the most secure foundation they had. A church was a place of worship, but it also served as a schoolhouse, a meeting hall, and a center of mutual aid. Waco grew into an important center of Black religious and educational life, and in 1877 Paul Quinn College relocated to the city.
People & events
The church's founder was Father Anderson Brack, who organized the congregation in 1874 and lived until 1905. Beyond what the marker tells us, little detail about his life survives in readily available sources. His work, though, is plain to see: he gathered a congregation that has now lasted for well over a century.
The first services were held in a house near the Brazos River that also served as a school for Waco's Black community. That pairing of worship and learning was typical of the era. Formerly enslaved people had been denied education by law and custom, and many saw literacy as one of freedom's first and most precious rewards. The same rooms where they prayed on Sunday were where children and adults learned to read during the week.
As the congregation grew, it built a series of sanctuaries, each a step up from the last. Every new building meant years of saving, fundraising, and volunteer labor by working families. That effort ended in 1924 with the completion of the present church.
Through all of those years, the people of St. James carried on missionary work, community service, and Christian education. These ongoing commitments did as much as any building to make the church a pillar of the community.
Its place in the American story
St. James is part of one of the great stories of the post-emancipation era: the founding of independent Black churches across the South. These congregations were among the first institutions fully owned and run by African Americans. They trained leaders, supported schools, and gave communities a place to organize and speak for themselves.
The 1924 building also tells a story about persistence. It went up in the depths of the Jim Crow era, when segregation was the law and racial violence was a real threat in Texas. Raising a substantial brick church with towers and Gothic windows was an act of faith. It was also a public statement that this community was permanent and deserved respect.
Across the country, churches like St. James became the backbone of Black civic life for generations. They housed schools, benevolent societies, and later many of the networks that powered the civil rights movement. When you look at this building, you are seeing one local thread of that national story.
If you visit
Look closely at the architecture. The church is built in a modified Gothic Revival style, and the marker points to its decorative brickwork, pointed-arch windows, and octagonal towers. Notice how the brick patterns catch the light, and how the towers frame the facade and give the building its presence on the street.
This is an active congregation's house of worship, not a museum. Be respectful when you visit, especially during services. If you'd like to see the interior, it's best to reach out to the church ahead of time instead of expecting it to be open.
Waco makes a rewarding stop on any Central Texas road trip. The historic suspension bridge over the Brazos, the riverfront, and the city's museums are all nearby. Visiting St. James alongside them helps fill in a part of Waco's past that is often left out: the story of the families who built a free community here after emancipation.
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
- · Anderson Brack
Themes & tags
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