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 Joshua Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church
In 1866 an African Methodist Church was organized in a farmhouse about ten miles outside of Waxahachie. This was so soon after the Civil War that blacks were afraid to hold public meetings, and due to this and the impossibility of proper guidance and lack of money the church failed. It was ten years later, in 1876, that another A. M. E. Church was reorganized in Ovilla. There were fifteen families in this communion. The church moved into an old school building in Waxahachie across the street from the present A. M. E. Church on Aiken Street.1 In 1879, the present plot of land was purchased by three ministers, the Reverend Monroe Conner, the Reverend M. Lowe and the Reverend Joshua Goins for three hundred dollars from Cyrus Aiken.2 The building was moved from across the street, and the church was named Joshua Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in honor of their first minister, Joshua Goins. He was known as the "father of African Methodism in Texas," having organized forty-one churches and built fourteen during his lifetime.3 In 1916 the Reverend W. O. Boyd became the pastor of Joshua Chapel. He realized the need for expansion. The present red brick, two story building was erected. It was built by W. S. Pittman, architect, and C. R. Powell, contractor, for the sum of four thousand eight hundred. Both men were from Alabama. Mr. Pittman was the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. The church was referred to as the New Joshua Chapel. In 1917 the cornerstone was laid with this inscription: G. R. Powel, contractor; W. S. Pittman, contractor; the Reverend J. A. Jones, presiding elder; the Reverend W. O. Boyd, pastor. Trustees were William Richardson, J. H. Flowers, A. Duke, T. J. Frierson, Maury Munchus, T. J. Johnson, F. G. Drake, I. Oliphant, and Henry Ritchie. Additional Photos
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