St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church
historic place
St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic place in Dallas, Texas. The congregation began in 1873, when freedmen and freedwomen gathered under a brush arbor in Freedman's Town. Reverend H. Oliver was the first pastor. An early frame sanctuary also served as a school for African American children. Samuel Huston College held its initial classes here in 1876. Construction on the current brick sanctuary started in 1913 and finished by 1927. This building is a rare example of an early twentieth-century, architect-designed African American church in Dallas. It features Collegiate Gothic Revival and Romanesque Revival elements, designed by William Sidney Pittman, Dallas's first African American architect. The church received a Dallas historic landmark designation in 1982 and a State of Texas landmark designation in 2014. A historical marker was erected in 2013. St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church represents a significant part of Dallas's African American history and architectural heritage.