African Methodist Episcopal Church
El Paso, Texas

Description: African Methodist Episcopal Church
Other Names: Visitors Chapel
Address: 501 Tays, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: religious; church
Original Client: A.M.E. congregation
Date: by 1910
Condition: demolished

Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Associated Architect or Firm:
Contractors: Turbeville Construction Company
Dimensions and Orientation: one story nave with undercroft and bell tower; apparently a corner lot
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: stone
Wall Materials: brick, probably red
Roofing Materials: unknown
Other Materials Used: stairs appear to be concrete
Remodeling and Additions:

Location of Drawings:
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library, 321, facade; Aultman A5541, perspective view

Bibliography: El Paso Chamber of Commerce, Prosperity and Opportunities in El Paso and El Paso’s Territory the 1911 Report of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (El Paso: Chamber of Commerce, 1911), page 63: photograph (A5541), mislabeled “First Presbyterian Church”

Remarks: First listed in the 1910 city directory as the city’s only “colored” church. In the 1911 city directory, there were three. The building is attributed to Trost & Trost on the basis of the similarity of the bell tower to that of the First Presbyterian Church of El Paso of 1907-08 , and because the gables of the doorway and nave are similar to those found in many Trost & Trost schools.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990