The laser-cut steel walls of the memorial art are designs taken from African American quilts. Next to the building is a public space featuring a small stage with a poem by the former city poet laureate laser-cut into the circular roof. Credit: Gerald E. McLeod

The St. James AMEC Culture Crossing celebrates a community in San Antonio with a unique monument full of joy and beauty. 

Presence of the Past by artist Gordon Huether brings back the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in San Antonio using laser-cut white steel panels in designs inspired by African American freedom quilts. The memorial re-creates the church on the banks of San Pedro Creek in downtown as an open-air space wrapped in warmth with an inviting charm. 

At the corner of West Houston and Cameron streets in downtown San Antonio, the former site of St. James AME Church has become a park on San Pedro Creek Culture Park commemorating the city’s first free African American congregation. Credit: Gerald E. McLeod

Next to it is the Culture Crossing Pavilion, a public space with a small stage shaded by a circular roof engraved with more quilt patterns and a poem by Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, a former city poet laureate. 

The road to this public park on the west side of downtown traversed 159 years from just after the Civil War to 2020 when workmen uncovered a cornerstone buried under a parking lot, and to June 19, 2026, when the historic and artistic site was unveiled to the public. The limestone block was part of the foundation of the St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church’s first sanctuary from 1873 to 1878. As the second-oldest AME church in Texas and the first in San Antonio, the congregation continues to be active in the community. 

The former site of the St. James AME Church was discovered during flood control work on San Pedro Creek. Gordon Huether designed the public art piece titled Presence of the Past. In place of the church’s altar is a plaque listing the names of the original church members, some former slaves and some freedmen. After worshipping in people’s homes, the group purchased the building in 1873 to create the second AME church in Texas. Credit: Gerald E. McLeod

The foundation of the former church was discovered during work on the 2.2-mile San Pedro Creek Culture Park, San Antonio’s much quieter and more idyllic other river walk. The linear park was built for flood control and encompasses murals, gardens, and lighting displays with the best part north of Commerce Street parallel with Camaron Street. 

The St. James AMEC Culture Crossing is at the corner of West Houston and Camaron streets sheltered from the setting sun by the historic Alameda Theater. The Institute of Texan Cultures is catty-corner to the park and Pinkerton’s Barbecue is a block away in Legacy Park. 

1,820th in a series. Everywhere is a day trip from somewhere. Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/day-trips.

This article appears in August 21 • 2026.

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Gerald E. McLeod joined the Chronicle staff in November 1980 as a graphic designer. In April 1991 he began writing the “Day Trips” column. Besides the weekly travel column, he contributed “101 Swimming Holes,” “Guide to Central Texas Barbecue,” and “Guide to the Texas Hill Country.” His first 200 columns have been published in Day Trips Vol. I and Day Trips Vol. II.