Evergreen United Methodist Church
Evergreen, San Jacinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized about 1862, seven years before the formation of San Jacinto County, this church was originally known as Hickory Grove Methodist Church. It was later named Mickles Chapel, in honor of a presiding elder, before the present congregational name was adopted. Located here since the late 1870s, the Evergreen United Methodist Church has played a significant role in the development of the surrounding area. Church facilities were used for early school classes and members of the congregation served as prominent leaders of the Evergreen community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded around 1862 — seven years before San Jacinto County itself existed — this congregation began as Hickory Grove Methodist Church, later became Mickles Chapel in honor of a presiding elder, and finally took the name Evergreen. Settled on this site since the late 1870s, its building hosted early school classes and its members served as leaders of the surrounding community.
Why it matters
Rural churches like Evergreen were often a frontier community's first institution — sanctuary, schoolhouse, and civic center all at once — anchoring settlement before counties and towns took shape.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Townsite of Coldspring
Coldspring, TX
The land beneath Coldspring began as a Mexican grant to Col. Robert Rankin, a veteran of the American Revolution. Its post office cycled through colorful names — "Coonskin," then "Fireman's Hill," and finally "Cold Springs" — before settling on the modern spelling in 1850. After fire destroyed the wooden courthouse in 1915, a stone replacement rose in 1918, and by 1923 most of the town had relocated up the hill to its present site. Early academies and an 1880 "Male and Female Institute" educated its children.
First Baptist Church of Coldspring
Coldspring, TX
Formally organized in 1848 in a rough settlement once called 'Coonskin' and then 'Fireman's Hill,' Laurel Hill Baptist Church began with just four members under missionary pastor Joseph Warner Dossey Creath. General James B. Davis, a friend of Sam Houston, donated land for the church, its baptismal pool, and cemetery, and in 1853 members helped found the Cold Springs Female College — an early Texas Baptist school that closed with the coming of the Civil War. After fires, courthouse relocations, and rebuildings, the congregation was renamed First Baptist Church of Coldspring and marked its 150th anniversary in 1998.
Black Jack Methodist Church and Cemetery
Walker County, TX
Settlement of this part of Walker County began in the 1830s, and Black Jack Methodist Church was organized in 1871, moving to this site in 1886 on land donated by Sophronia Jane Warren. A cemetery opened here in 1887, and the building doubled as the community's school until 1916. Regular services ended during the Great Depression, leaving the church and its graves as the settlement's memorial.
East Sandy Community
New Waverly, TX
In the 1850s the Sandel and Powell families moved from Mississippi to the south bank of East Sandy Creek, establishing a Methodist congregation that worshiped in a small building doubling as a schoolhouse. The adjoining East Sandy Cemetery holds a marked grave from 1861 and, by oral tradition, still-earlier unmarked burials. The school ran until about 1913 before merging with a neighbor, and the cemetery now marks where a scattered rural community once centered its life.