Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The African American Methodist community in Galveston dates to 1848, when Gail Borden deeded land on Broadway for a salve church. Following the Civil War, the congregation changed its affiliation from Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. The church became known in 1867 as Reedy Chapel A.M.E., forerunner of A.M.E. churches throughout Texas. St. Paul M.E. Church split from Reedy Chapel, and in 1868 the St. Paul group divided, with one group buying property on Broadway and 38th Streets and becoming Wesley Tabernacle Church. The new congregation changed locations and sanctuaries, starting with a one-room house later moved to a new site at Avenue I (Sealy) and 28th in 1870. The church added buildings later destroyed in an 1879 fire. A new wood frame sanctuary, severely damaged in the 1900 hurricane, was rebuilt by John Tankersley and an African American carpentry crew. The façade changed again in 1924 when the Galveston grade raising reached this neighborhood. Houston architectural firm Stowe and Stowe and builder Henry H. Lasden built a new red brick façade with white stone detailing. The building features a prominent corner tower, bracketed tower cap and twin bracketed porch canopies, mixing elements of Gothic Revival and Craftsman style architecture. Interior features include a unique hand-hewn structural truss system intact from renovations following the 1900 storm. Pews and altar furniture date from the 1881 sanctuary. Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church has long been involved in social progress for the African American community it serves. Members have promoted civil rights for many years, including organization of the first anti-lynching society in Texas in 1914.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Galveston's African American Methodist community reaches back to 1848, and after the Civil War the congregation that became Reedy Chapel A.M.E. spawned a lineage of churches — among them Wesley Tabernacle, organized out of a split in 1868. Its sanctuary survived fire in 1879 and the catastrophic 1900 hurricane, only to be rebuilt by a Black carpentry crew and later refaced in brick when the city's grade raising reached the neighborhood. Beyond worship, the church became a center of Black civic life and, in 1914, home to what is described as the first anti-lynching society in Texas.
Why it matters
Wesley Tabernacle links emancipation-era faith to the long freedom struggle, showing how Black churches doubled as sanctuaries and organizing grounds for civil rights.
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Related events
- · 1900 Galveston hurricane
- · Galveston grade raising
Themes & tags
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