Friday's Frame

This is what's left of the historic Bethel Baptist Church in Freedmen's Town. When slavery was finally abolished in USAmerica, it took two and a half years for that information to reach Galveston and eventually the rest of Texas.

Freed slaves settled on the edge of Houston in an area now just outside of downtown. It became known as Freedman's town and was Houston's Harlem, bustling with clubs and restaurants and more importantly to the residents, freed 'men'.

These former slaves built up the area. The tiny streets there, including this one, still have patches of the old brick that the original habitants placed so many years ago.

Throughout the years, as Houston grew and people moved further out, the area fell into decline. The city mostly ignored repairs to the area. Money and help mostly went to other neighborhoods. It became an area that attracted the homeless and dealers.

In the last five to ten years the property values have surged. Old shotgun houses were quickly torn down, folks were displaced as new townhomes came in.

Bethel Baptist Church, founded in 1896 by Rev. Jack Yates, moved eight years ago as their building deteriorated beyond use. Attempts were being made to raise funding for the restoration without much success. Last year a fire broke out and nearly destroyed the structure.

In the following days a bulldozer showed up to finish off what the fire couldn't, until folks quickly came to the rescue. Some suggested arson as a motive to replace the church building with a more tax generating structure.

The effort is under way to save the building and restore it. City inspectors say the four remaining walls are not safe.

It is sad what happened. How great it would be for it to be rebuilt. But, in the end, it is a building and not a church.

Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.