Historic Resources of East Lampasas
Four historic resources, the Moses Hughes Mill, New Hope Baptist Church, the Lampasas Colored School, and St. Paul’s A.M.E. Church, are located near one another in east Lampasas.
Built in the 1920s, both the Colored School and the adjacent New Hope Baptist Church are two of the last significant surviving emblems of the vibrant Black community that has now largely disappeared from the area.
Lampasas Colored School
New Hope Baptist Church
Across Sulphur Creek from the Colored School and New Hope Church is St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was built in the 1920s as a Mexican Catholic mission called St. Christopher’s. It later became a Black church when it was sold to the congregation in 1964.
St. Christopher’s Church
St. Paul’s AME Church 2023
The nearby Moses Hughes mill was built on Sulphur Creek in 1855 and was used to grind corn and wheat until 1899 when it was converted to produce electricity. The building burned in 1941 leaving only the three-story rock walls which were destroyed a year later as part of a flood control project. The pools of clear spring water created by the old mill foundations have been used by generations of students from the Colored School and by Lampasans in general for recreation.
Moses Hughes Mill Ruins
Hughes Mill
Hughes Mill Dam
Currently, the City of Lampasas owns the Mill, the Colored School, and the New Hope Baptist Church, and has not shown any interest in maintaining or restoring the sites which have deteriorated due to neglect. St Paul’s AME Church is the most endangered of the four and the walls have collapsed leaving the building open to the weather.
St. Paul’s AME Church Collapse
A grassroots preservation effort is needed to bring local stakeholders together, including the City of Lampasas, to create a comprehensive plan and develop a budget for the sites to be rehabilitated, interpreted, and enjoyed by the public as a city park.
LOCATION: Near 604 College Street, Lampasas (Lampasas County)
DESIGNATION: NRHP, RTHL (Colored School)
OWNER: City of Lampasas (Colored School, New Hope Church, Hughes Mill Ruins), Private (St. Paul’s AME)
STATUS: Endangered
RESOURCE TYPE: Institutional, Municipal, African-American Heritage, Religious, District
YEAR LISTED: 2023
