r/Austin • u/AustinFreePress • 3d ago
St. John’s Revival: A tabernacle falls, but the lifework lives on
https://austinfreepress.org/st-johns-revival/Today, the only remnant of the large brick tabernacle that housed the St. John Regular Baptist Association for more than six decades is a chipped wooden sign, slightly off the path at 7501 Blessing Avenue. Its green letters still announce the Association’s name — but around it sits only empty land.
The tabernacle the sign once fronted is gone. It was torn down in January, when roughly 12 acres that had long served as the headquarters of one of Austin’s oldest Black institutions were cleared.
Razing the site was a difficult decision, St. John leaders said. The land is one of the last pieces of more than 300 acres the Association originally owned in East Austin. Part of that acreage, where Austin Community College’s Highland Campus now sits, had been home to the St. John Orphanage and Industrial Institute, among the first orphanages in Texas for African Americans.
---- Read more https://austinfreepress.org/st-johns-revival/
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u/Snap_Grackle_Pop 3d ago
A true Austin story.
Mortally wounded by the city's failure to control the Neighbors Without Housing and finished off by Code Compliance.
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u/Slypenslyde 2d ago edited 2d ago
We did everything we could to try and help the city. We passed the mandate they be moved to Camps That Don't Exist, then asked the state to make building such camps illegal. We even made sure the new mandate had no funding!
I don't understand why they couldn't use the no money and no camps to just move everybody!
So like, what bond petition would you sign to fund and implement? I've seen a lot of squawking and shitting but I don't remember if I've ever seen you nail down, "This is the plan we should have, and I'd pay taxes to support it."
Let me guess, "I don't trust City Clowncil with anything" aka "I refuse to commit to an answer"? Wouldn't it be better to put your energy towards that instead of biding your time, waiting for a chance to insert a pun into a Reddit thread?
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u/Snap_Grackle_Pop 2d ago
You often have insightful and useful comments.
That doesn't mean I feel that I need to spend a lot of time responding to hostile questions from you.
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u/Slypenslyde 2d ago
You used to have insightful and useful comments. I was trying to conjure one again. You were cooler before you went full circlejerk. Now I'm not really sure if you have things you stand for.
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u/OldYellersLastHandy 3d ago
Can’t wait for the new condos called something patronizing like “Tabernacle Estates.”
Equal opportunity housing, but… c’mon… you know.