First Methodist Church of Holliday
Holliday, Archer County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Although records of the congregation date to 1892, Methodist circuit-riding ministers were serving this area as early as 1889. R. P. McElwreath was the first pastor of the Holliday church. Ten acres of land were deeded to the church, and the plot was known as the Holliday Campground. The first church building was erected about 1900, largely due to the efforts of church member James Madison Taylor (1836-1921). The wooden frame church was razed in the 1920s, and a new brick structure was built in 1927 during the pastorate of S.M. Dunham. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Methodist circuit-riding preachers were already serving this corner of Archer County by 1889, and formal church records for Holliday begin in 1892 under its first pastor, R.P. McElwreath. Ten acres deeded to the church became known as the Holliday Campground, and around 1900 members — led by the efforts of James Madison Taylor — raised the first frame church. That wooden building came down in the 1920s, replaced by a brick sanctuary in 1927.
Why it matters
The marker preserves the era of the Methodist circuit rider, whose horseback ministry stitched together the scattered settlements of the American frontier.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · R. P. McElwreath
- · James Madison Taylor
- · S.M. Dunham
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Maggie and Herod "Pap" Simpson
Holliday, TX
Holliday took shape in 1890 as the Wichita Valley Railway pushed through and a townsite was platted along Holliday Creek. That same year Maggie Holt married H.W. Simpson; four years later he rode off on a cattle drive to Dodge City and vanished forever. Left to raise her son alone, Maggie bought a hotel in 1907 and ran it herself for nearly four decades until her death in 1946.
Captain John Holliday
Holliday, TX
John Holliday came to Texas around 1835 and survived the Goliad Massacre of March 1836, one of only two dozen to escape that infamous killing of Texian prisoners. Joining the ill-fated Texian–Santa Fe Expedition in 1841, he carved his name on a tree near this spot before the party was captured and marched to a Mexican prison. Freed in 1842, he died of yellow fever at sea within sight of Galveston, and the carved tree gave its name to nearby Holliday Creek and the town.
Dad's Corner
Holliday, TX
When oil was struck in Archer County in 1923, a wildcat boomtown erupted at this crossroads almost overnight, complete with a hotel, cafe, school, ice house, and roughly two dozen businesses. It took its homespun name from a food-stand operator known simply as "Dad." As the county's largest oil field drew workers half a mile to the southeast, cowboys traded their saddles for drilling rigs, and residents long remembered a rowdy stretch of lawlessness patrolled by the Texas Rangers. When the wells and the boom played out, Dad's Corner emptied into a ghost town.
Van Dorn Trail
Iowa Park, TX
In September 1858, Brevet Major Earl Van Dorn led 200 troopers of the elite 2nd U.S. Cavalry across this stretch of North Texas, blazing the county's first important wagon road as he pushed toward Comanche country. Ahead rode young "Sul" Ross with 100 reservation scouts guided by the loyal Tonkawa chief Placido. The campaign that followed brought sharp fighting near Rush Springs and later victories in Kansas, and the trail's deep ruts, cut by army supply wagons, later guided pioneer settlers into the region.