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.
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Related people
- · Anderson Brack
Themes & tags
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