Austin Avenue United Methodist Church
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
At the close of the nineteenth century, when it was determined that Waco's Fifth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, south (now First United Methodist Church) had grown too large, its members petitioned the denominaiton conference of the organization of another congregation in Waco. As a result, the quarterly conference approved the establishment of Austin Avenue Methodist Church on December 31, 1900. The Rev. John R. Nelson was appointed to organize the new congregation. Three lots were purchased at the corner of Austin Avenue and 12th street for a church building. The congregation was offically chartered on December 29, 1901, with a membership of 81,and a sanctuary was completed in April 1902. The congregation experienced a steady growth that paralleled that of its neighborhood. When the first building became too small for the growing church, it was sold to Trinity Presbyterian Church, and a new Methodist structure was built at Austin Avenue and 13th street. Throughout its history, this church has served its community with a variety of outreach programs. It continues to be an important part of Waco's history.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As the 19th century closed, Waco's Fifth Street Methodist congregation had simply grown too large, so in 1900 the conference approved a new church for the city. Chartered the next year with 81 members, Austin Avenue Methodist built its first sanctuary in 1902 and grew alongside its neighborhood, eventually outgrowing that home and building anew a block away. Through the decades it sustained a steady tradition of community outreach.
Why it matters
The congregation's story of division and growth mirrors the rapid expansion of Waco itself at the turn of the 20th century, when thriving churches multiplied to keep pace with booming Texas cities.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John R. Nelson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Austin Avenue Methodist Church
Waco, TX
Designed by prolific Southern architect R.H. Hunt and completed in 1925, this Waco church is a substantial essay in Gothic style, its brick mass rising from a raised basement beneath a prominent bell tower. Time and misfortune reshaped it: the tower's original tracery was gone by the 1940s, and a 1954 fire forced the replacement of the sanctuary's art glass. What remains is a landmark that has weathered the ordinary accidents of a long congregational life.
Columbus Avenue Baptist Church
Waco, TX
On Christmas Eve 1900, Baptists in the fast-growing north Waco neighborhood gathered in a private home to plan a new congregation, and with twenty-three members transferred from First Baptist Church, they organized in January 1901. They worshiped in a Presbyterian church and the YMCA until raising a small frame sanctuary that October, later renaming the church for the street it stood on. Over the decades the congregation grew and reached out to students, the elderly, the deaf, soldiers at nearby camps, and the disadvantaged across the city.
First Presbyterian Church of Waco
Waco, TX
Founded in 1855 with just seventeen members and two ruling elders, the First Presbyterian Church of Waco grew alongside its frontier town, outgrowing two earlier buildings before raising the present sanctuary in 1912. Remarkably, across seventy-four years the congregation had only two ministers — Dr. Samuel A. King and Dr. Charles T. Caldwell — an unusual continuity of leadership. The church's steady history mirrors Waco's own growth from antebellum settlement to established city.
Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. & A.M.
Waco, TX
Texas Freemasonry began with a false start in 1828, when Stephen F. Austin's petition to the Mexican Grand Lodge foundered amid political turmoil. A charter finally reached Texas through Anson Jones, who reportedly carried it during the Battle of San Jacinto, and in 1837 three lodges convened under Sam Houston to form the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, with Jones as first Grand Master. After meeting in many places, the Grand Lodge settled permanently in Waco in 1902.