Mount Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church, Palestine

Mount Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church at 913 East Calhoun Street in Palestine, Texas. It is the third oldest AME church in Texas. The church was organized by freedmen in the early 1870s. The congregation originally worshiped at a church that it shared with Missionary Baptist Church. In 1878 the church bought 2.2 acres at its present location and constructed a wood-frame structure in 1885. In 1921 the structure was razed and a new church designed in a Gothic vernacular style was built. The church's two front bell towers are typical of the AME faith-based churches of the 1920s. Mount Vernon was the first church to introduce Palestine to integrated low-income apartment housing. In 1968 a 100-unit apartment housing project was erected at 2020 Sterne Avenue. In 1986 the church was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. ()