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Bethel AME Church

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c. 1911. 105 N. 4th St.

After the Civil War, many former enslaved workers from plantations around Corsicana settled in neighborhoods located east of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad tracks. Three churches were built within a three-block area. Bethel AME Church, the most distinctive, is a Prairie Style–influenced design with square towers similar to those of churches by Dallas architect James Edward Flanders, although no attribution has been documented. The church exerts its civic presence through its composition of imposing corner towers. The massing of the hipped roofs encloses an Akron-plan auditorium and transepts. The deep bracketed roof eaves complete a harmonious, integrated design.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

Timeline

  • 1911

    Built

What's Nearby

Burlington–Rock Island Railroad Depot
Chase Bank Building (State National Bank)
Palace Theatre
Commercial Building (IOOF Lodge)
U.S. Post Office and Federal Building

Related Essays

The Building Culture of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Bethel AME Church", [Corsicana, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-CW15.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 83-83.

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