Mount_Vernon_African_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_(Palestine,_Texas)
Mount Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church (Palestine, Texas)
Historic church in Texas, United States
Mount Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church at 913 East Calhoun Street in Palestine, Texas. It is the third oldest AME church in Texas. The church was organized by freedmen in the early 1870s. The congregation originally worshiped at a church that it shared with Missionary Baptist Church. In 1878 the church bought 2.2 acres at its present location and constructed a wood-frame structure in 1885. In 1921 the structure was razed and a new church designed in a Gothic vernacular style was built. The church's two front bell towers are typical of the AME faith-based churches of the 1920s. Mount Vernon was the first church to introduce Palestine to integrated low-income apartment housing. In 1968 a 100-unit apartment housing project was erected at 2020 Sterne Avenue. In 1986 the church was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.[citation needed]
In 1988 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
The church closed its doors in 2014. In 2015, Mount Vernon was placed on Preservation Texas' Most Endangered places list.[citation needed]
The building is brick with Gothic Revival details.[2]
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