First Methodist Church of Overton
Overton, Rusk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This church dates to 1873 when many members of the nearby Jamestown church became pioneer members of this congregation. A small frame building was built that year on this site with lumber hauled by wagon. A new sanctuary was built here in 1932, and a two-story education building was added in 1937. As membership grew a new church was completed here in 1969, using the stained glass windows from the previous structure. The church sponsors traditional programs for the congregation, and continues to serve the community as it has for more than 120 years.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation dates to 1873, when members of the nearby Jamestown church helped found a new fellowship in Overton, raising a small frame building from lumber hauled in by wagon. Successive sanctuaries followed in 1932 and 1969, the last preserving stained-glass windows from the earlier structure. For more than a century the church has served this Rusk County community.
Why it matters
Its wagon-hauled origins show how settlers carried their institutions with them as farming communities took hold across post–Civil War Texas.
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Themes & tags
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