Historic Mount Vernon AME Church receives preservation grant
Sep. 24—The Mount Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church Restoration Project received word Thursday that the board of directors of Restoration Texas had voted to approve a $75,000 matching funds grant to be used for structural repairs and a new roof for the historic building.
The Mt. Vernon AME Church Project Restoration Administrator Tabitha Enge was more than excited over the news.
"I am so excited," Enge said. "This grant is absolutely going to save this building."
Organized by freedmen in the 1870s as a church and school, Mount Vernon AME is the third oldest congregation of its kind in Texas and the city's oldest African American church. Though the building closed in 2014, Mount Vernon still has a congregation of roughly 300 members.
Enge has been the driving force behind the restoration project for the historic church for the past eight years. While the project is massive in scale, Enge is deeply and personally attached to the effort.
"I wake up project restoration and I go to sleep project restoration," Enge said. "It means so much to the community. There is so much that needs to be done, but every project moves it closer to being here for another 150 years."
When Enge started working on the project, there was enough money in the church fund to erect scaffolding in the church's interior in 2015, which bought enough time to raise funds and apply for grants to move it to the next phase of restoration.
"Jacob Morris, who was Palestine's Preservation Officer at the time, gave me information on structural engineers," said Enge. "That's when Mark Thacker came to Palestine. He saw the passion and the value in the project and he has been a part of the process ever since."
Thacker, an architect from Lindale, completed a preservation planning book in 2021 which facilitated grant applications for stabilizing the structure, leading to this week's good news.
Being named one of the state's "most endangered places" in 2015 by the Texas Historic Commission brought statewide and national attention to the project, facilitating a portion of the restoration effort. Grants awarded in the past have gone toward restoration of the tower facades on the front of the building, which prevented further roof and structural damage. After the completion of Thacker's preservation master plan, the project entered into phase one, which saw floor and foundation repair and demolition in preparation for phase two. The Restoration Texas grant will finance that phase.
"Phase two will be repairs to the roof and wall structure," Enge said. "When that part is completed, the rest will be cosmetic, but it will mean that Mt. Vernon will be standing for a very long time."
Mary Raum, Tourism Marketing Manager at Visit Palestine, Texas, expressed her excitement for the milestone step for the project.
"We are so proud of Tabitha Enge and the Mt Vernon AME Church restoration team," Raum said. "Over the past two years, the city of Palestine Tourism Advisory Board and City Council have invested $30,000 for the restoration and preservation of this highly significant African American historic site in Palestine. Funds were allocated over two years through the Hotel Occupancy Tax Grant application process and have been used to help fund the stabilization of the structure and prepare it for the next phase of the project."
"Next year will be the 150th birthday of this building," Enge said. "I would love to see people be able to come inside and see the progress and to feel the love and history here. Deep down, it means something to so many people."
For questions about Project Restoration, call 903-948-9648 or email mtvernon14@gmail.com. Mail donations to P.O. Box 2924, Palestine, Texas, 75802, ATTN: Project Restoration.
