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This congregation originated in 1865, and is one of the oldest in Houston. The Rev. Emanuel Toby (also called "Uncle Toby" or Toby Gregg) and friends cut brush, built an arbor on Vine Street near the banks of Buffalo Bayou, and began to worship there. In 1867 Toby bought the Vine Street site for five dollars from his ex-master, Darius Gregg. Also in 1867, the Rev. Charles Bryant, a West Indian, came to Houston as a Methodist missionary. In "Uncle Toby's church under the hill," he found 25 probationers and 50 members. By 1871, when the congregation bought the Vine Street property from Toby and erected its original frame chapel, the church had 122 members. Renamed Mount Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church in 1879, the congregation moved to this permanent location in 1901. This site's original structure was built mostly by the personal labor of the Rev. C. C. Minnegan. The present sanctuary was constructed in 1935; the educational unit, in 1956. This congregation helped establish the Brooks Chapel United Methodist Church, regularly provides many social services, aids the needy, and has produced community leaders for more than a century. |
