Ebenezer United Methodist Church was founded in 1827 by blacks who left a biracial church on Capitol Hill because the white congregants practiced segregation. The members of the new church purchased land here and built a small frame structure, a model of which can be seen along the side of the church that faces Fourth Street. In 1864 Ebenezer gained its first African American minister, Reverend Noah Jones, and housed the city's first publicly financed school for black children. Emma V. Brown was one of two teachers at the school and is credited with being the city's first African American public school teacher.