Following the Civil War and Emancipation, missionaries of the newly formed African Methodist Episcopal Church began serving the small but vibrant black population around Moulton. In 1867, Reverend E. Hammitt became the first Black AME minister in the county, riding a large circuit that included Moulton. After Samuel and William Moore laid out and founded modern-day Moulton in 1887, they donated a plot of land in the southeastern part of town to the city’s black population, where a small one-room church was erected. Often called Moore’s chapel by locals, it served the religious needs of the black community. After World War I, the church became the African American school for the community, and in 1921 the trustees purchased land and erected a new building for both church and school. Though it offered few amenities, the congregation flourished there for decades. In 1948, the Moulton Independent School District built a new school for the district’s black children. Because of disrepair and hurricane and flood damage, a new church was built in 1962 under the leadership of Reverend W.O. Johnson and Joseph Parker. After decades of religious and community service, migration to urban areas caused membership to decline, and St. Paul’s AME Church closed in 2007 after 120 years of service.