St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church Foundations and 1875 Cornerstone
A community-submitted Section 106 Success Story in San Antonio, Texas.
photo by: Vince Michael
The 1875 cornerstone of the St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church as the foundations were excavated along San Pedro Creek.
As Military City USA, San Antonio has a long tradition of preserving important landmarks in military history, including the Alamo, the 1850s Arsenal, the National Historic Landmark Fort Sam Houston, the site of the first military flight, two onetime Air Force bases, and two active Air Force bases. Section 106 created a strong working relationship between the military and the community that included annual tours of historic resources.
The St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church foundations and 1875 cornerstone were discovered during the renovation of San Pedro Creek in downtown San Antonio in 2020. The Section 106 consultation brought together church leaders, urban historians, preservationists, and cultural heritage agencies to develop a new plan that preserved and interpreted the significant remains as part of a new urban cultural park opening in 2022.
photo by: Vince Michael
The completed interpretive panel on the St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church.
What Would Have Been Lost
St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first church in the city where Black people could worship without restrictions. The congregation encouraged "political participation, education, civil rights, public service, and economic empowerment." In 2022, the foundations and 1875 cornerstone were found along San Pedro Creek, triggering Section 106. If the July 2026 revisions by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation were approved at that time, these archaeological finds would likely not have been preserved.
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