First Church in Community Copperas Methodist Church
Junction, Kimble County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1881 by circuit rider, Andrew Jackson Potter, who helped firmly establish the Methodist church in West Texas. Before construction of church on this site in 1917, services were held in schoolhouse or under brush arbor 3/4 mi. SW on west bank, Copperas Creek. Building site was donated by J. A. Cowsert. Lumber was hauled here by wagon from Menard. Labor was donated by members and other local residents. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the West Texas frontier of 1881, the celebrated circuit rider Andrew Jackson Potter organized this Methodist congregation, part of his lifelong work planting churches across a raw and thinly settled country. For years the faithful gathered in a schoolhouse or under a brush arbor near Copperas Creek before neighbors hauled lumber by wagon from Menard and donated their own labor to raise a church here in 1917.
Why it matters
It captures how frontier religion took root through itinerant preachers and community barn-raising spirit, binding scattered settlers into a shared civic life.
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Related people
- · Andrew Jackson Potter
- · J. A. Cowsert
Themes & tags
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