In the 1860s, the Methodist Episcopal Bishop was notified that another African Methodist Church was needed in Galveston for people who lived west of 25th Street. In 1870, trustees for the congregation purchased the land at 1310 29th Street. Church buildings at the site had been destroyed by hurricanes in 1894 and 1900. The present structure was built in 1923 after the former building weakened. In 1971 it became the first African American church in Texas to get a state historical marker.