In 1904, Harmony Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was founded by George Delaney, Albert Perkins, and William Townley.

[5] During this time period, the church property served as a school for colored children, a Prince Hall Mason Lodge, an Eastern Star meeting site, and the founding home of the East Texas Burial Association and Funeral Home.

According to Allee Simmons Jacobs McNamee,[3] the community's long-time historian, preservationist, and also director of the SJM Group, in the beginning of the (black) cemetery, family and friends of the deceased would dig the graves and make homemade caskets, and had walking processionals to the cemetery (later, the casket was pulled by mules).

This burial practice was used because most slaves felt they would obtain freedom after death and this position would cause them to be ready when the angel Gabriel would blow his trumpet at the resurrection.

At the gravesite service, they sang songs such as "Go Down Moses”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, and “Shine on Me”.