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Trustees of the Methodist Church purchased this lot in 1848 as a worship site for black slaves. Meetings were held outdoors until a building was erected in 1863. At the end of the Civil War (1865), ownership of the property was transferred to the recently-freed blacks, who organized the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Texas. It was later named in honor of the Rev. Houston Reedy of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who served as the first pastor. The church survived several natural disasters, beginning in 1875, when the sanctuary was damaged in a storm. It was destroyed in 1885 by a fire that burned a large area of the city. Finished in 1887, the present structure was restored after the destructive hurricane of 1900, and repaired again in 1947 and 1957. More than 30 ministers have served this congregation, including the Rev. J. E. Edwards, the Rev. Josiah Armstrong, the Rev. M. D. Moody, the Rev. W. R. Beamer, the Rev. Louis H. Reynolds, the Rev. A. I. Henley, the Rev. R. C. Walker, the Rev. Erford Barker, the Rev. C. B. Bryant, and the current (1975) pastor, the Rev. Sylvester L. Green. Many of Galveston's prominent black citizens have been members of Reedy Chapel A. M. E. Church. Today the fellowship includes several descendants of the original founders. |
