First Methodist Church of Bryan
Bryan, Brazos County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Among the circuit riders who preached to early Methodists in this area were The Rev. Robert Alexander, presiding elder of the district, and The Rev. H.V. Philpott, who conducted services in a hall above a saloon. The Rev. H.G. Horton organized this congregation in 1868 and soon raised $500 to build a church on this site, deeded by the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. A brick church, erected in 1902, burned in 1906 and was rebuilt in 1908. During the 1920s, an adjacent residence was bought and remodeled for classrooms and the fellowship hall. A new sanctuary was completed in 1951.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Methodism reached this area through circuit-riding preachers, one of whom held services in a hall above a saloon before the Rev. H.G. Horton organized the congregation in 1868. The Houston & Texas Central Railroad deeded the church its first building site, tying the young congregation to the rail line that created the town of Bryan. A brick sanctuary raised in 1902 burned in 1906 and was rebuilt, with a new sanctuary completed in 1951.
Why it matters
The congregation's story traces how faith communities took root alongside the railroads that built Reconstruction-era Texas towns.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Rev. H.G. Horton
- · Rev. Robert Alexander
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Brazos County
Bryan, TX
Carved from Washington County in 1841 as part of Stephen F. Austin's colony, this county was first called Navasota with its seat at Boonville, then renamed Brazos in 1842. Through the Civil War, Millican flourished as the end of the railroad from Houston, but when the line pushed north Bryan became the county seat in 1866. The 1876 opening of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas — now Texas A&M — drew College Station into being around it.
Bryan & College Interurban Railway
Bryan, TX
Chartered in 1909 by Bryan's mayor and its merchants, the Bryan & College Interurban Railway opened in 1910 to link the town with the growing Texas A&M campus a few miles away. Trolleys and gasoline rail cars ran ten daily round trips, spawning subdivisions and even an amusement spot called Dellwood Park along the route. Beset by the rise of the automobile, the line slipped into receivership in 1922 and made its last run in 1929—but along its path Bryan and College Station grew until they merged into one.
La Salle Hotel
Bryan, TX
When it was completed in 1928, the seven-story La Salle was the tallest building in downtown Bryan, a Classical-detailed landmark rising across Main Street from the depot on the Houston and Texas Central line. Built for businessman Robert Wistar Howell, it offered a dining room, coffee shop, ballroom, and roughly a hundred guest rooms to travelers, politicians, and military visitors to Bryan and nearby College Station. It slipped into use as a nursing home and then stood closed for two decades before a rehabilitation returned it to service as a hotel in 2000.
The CW&BV and I&GN Railroads in Bryan
Bryan, TX
Bryan grew on land granted to the Houston & Texas Central Railroad in 1859, and in 1900 a second line — the Calvert, Waco & Brazos Valley, built by George Gould — arrived with a depot that doubled as a social hall until it was razed in 1990. When the tracks reached Waco in 1901 the CW&BV merged into the International & Great Northern Railroad, and the combined lines carried cotton and other goods to distant markets, along with passengers. Rail use ebbed after World War II, with brief revivals in the 1970s and 1990s.