First Methodist Church of Goldthwaite
Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Goldthwaite Methodists trace their history to the mid-1850s, when circuit-riding preachers began traveling to the area to minister to early permanent settlers. The pioneers gathered for services in private homes, out of doors, or in a one-room schoolhouse. For a time they were led by The Rev. H. Childress, who was known as the "bear-hunting preacher" because of the firearms he carried for protection while traveling. In 1885, the Santa Fe Railway founded the town of Goldthwaite. The town's railroad crew and passengers formed a ready market for goods and services, attracting new residents, who formed a local congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that year. The Rev. C. V. Oswalt was the first pastor, and within two years the congregation completed its first church structure, a wood frame building. Since that time, the congregation has built several progressively larger church structures to accommodate its growth. Due to denominational mergers, the congregation changed its name to the First Methodist Church in 1939, and to the First United Methodist Church in 1968. Active in missionary and social service since its beginning, the First Methodist Church remains an important part of the religious life of this community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Methodism reached this part of Central Texas in the mid-1850s by way of circuit-riding preachers—among them H. Childress, the "bear-hunting preacher" who traveled armed for protection. When the Santa Fe Railway founded the town of Goldthwaite in 1885, arriving residents formed a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and completed a wood-frame sanctuary within two years. Through denominational mergers the church became First Methodist in 1939 and First United Methodist in 1968.
Why it matters
The congregation's roots in horseback circuit riders and a new railroad town capture how faith and the railroad together settled the Texas frontier.
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Related people
- · Rev. H. Childress
- · Rev. C. V. Oswalt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Mills County Courthouse
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After Mills County was organized in 1887 and Goldthwaite named county seat, an Oscar Ruffini-designed courthouse served from 1890 until fire destroyed it in 1912. The county then hired San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps, whose 1913 three-story Classical Revival building — with its central pediment and fluted engaged columns — still anchors the town square.
The Old Town Well, Goldthwaite
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Mills County
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Mills County was carved from four neighboring counties—Brown, Comanche, Hamilton, and Lampasas—and created on March 15, 1887, organizing that August with Goldthwaite as its seat. It was named for John T. Mills, a judge of the Third and Seventh Judicial Districts back in the days of the Republic of Texas. The marker records the county's founding facts.
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