Decatur First United Methodist Church
Decatur, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1862, this congregation is the oldest in Decatur. The Reverend J. R. Bellamy conducted the first services in a vacant store on the south side of the town square. Other churches were not started in the community until after the Civil War. Instrumental leaders in the development of the young church were charter members Stephen M. Gose and his wife Mary. A blacksmith and farmer, Gose had migrated to this area from Missouri. Their home and pump organ were used for many of the early services. The first sanctuary was constructed at this site in 1881. Property for the congregation was deeded by the county government. Built during the pastorate of the Reverend E. D. Dejernet, the edifice was destroyed by fire in the early 1890s. A second church structure for the fellowship was soon built at this location. It served the growing membership until the present brick sanctuary was completed. Constructed under the leadership of the Reverend A. R. Nash, it was dedicated at Easter services in 1914. An educational wing was added in 1940. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1862 amid the upheaval of the Civil War, this was Decatur's first congregation, with early services held in a vacant store on the town square and in the home of pioneer members who had migrated from Missouri. The fellowship built its first sanctuary in 1881 on land deeded by the county, rebuilt after an 1890s fire, and completed its present brick sanctuary by Easter 1914. Its story tracks the settling of Wise County from wartime hardship into a growing community.
Why it matters
As the oldest congregation in Decatur, it embodies how faith communities took root even in the disruption of the Civil War years on the Texas frontier.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. R. Bellamy
- · Stephen M. Gose
- · Mary Gose
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Stone Prison
Decatur, TX
Built around 1859 with prison labor, this was the first stone house in Decatur, its main floor a residence for the sheriff or deputy and its basement a jail—with meals lowered to prisoners by a dumbwaiter. The county sold it in 1888, and it later served as the city waterworks until 1938 before becoming a private home. In 1967 the Wise County Historical Society bought it for use as a museum.
S. W. Tilghman House
Decatur, TX
S. W. Tilghman (1846–1913) came to Wise County by wagon train from Tennessee in 1870, married a Decatur native two years later, and raised a family here. A master builder, he raised this Victorian house for himself in 1882 and, with his son Robert, went on to construct many of Decatur's finest homes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The residence has stayed in the builder's family ever since.
Captain George Stevens
Decatur, TX
George W. Stevens came to Wise County in 1855 and became a leader in defending the exposed Texas frontier, serving in a frontier cavalry company and as county sheriff during the turbulent 1860s. In 1874 he was named captain of Company B of the Texas Rangers' Frontier Battalion, leading some seventy-five men — mostly Wise County neighbors — in the last campaigns against Comanche and Kiowa raiders, and he was severely wounded in a fight at Buffalo Springs. He later helped chase the notorious Sam Bass gang before his death in 1893.
Colonel Absalom Bishop
Decatur, TX
Absalom Bishop (1804–1883) began his military career as a militia captain in Florida's Seminole War before settling in what would become Wise County in 1855. Within a year he persuaded the Texas Legislature to carve out the new county, helped choose Decatur as county seat, and — a fierce Democrat — got the town named for naval hero Stephen Decatur after Zachary Taylor turned Whig. His mercantile store served as post office and Butterfield stage stop, and he championed the bridges that routed the mail line through town.