First Methodist Church of Pittsburg
Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The charter members of this church, organized in 1857 by the Rev. J. W. Harvey Hamill, included Major and Mrs. w. H. Pitts and others in the Pitts family, for whom this town was named. The congregation worshipped first in a log structure, then shared a 2-story frame building with the Masonic Lodge. A larger frame sanctuary was erected in 1888-89. It was replaced by this brick prairie style church, constructed (1904-05) during the pastorate of the Rev. E. L. Shettles. In 1953 the educational wing was added. In 1957, the fellowship's centennial year, membership was 546. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1857 by Rev. J.W. Harvey Hamill, this congregation counted among its charter members the family of Major W.H. Pitts, for whom Pittsburg was named. Worshipers moved from a log structure to a shared two-story frame building with the Masonic Lodge, then to a larger frame sanctuary in 1888–89, and finally to the brick prairie-style church built in 1904–05. By its 1957 centennial the membership had grown to 546.
Why it matters
The church grew alongside the East Texas town its founding family named, a thread of community continuity running from the antebellum era into the 20th century.
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Related people
- · W.H. Pitts
- · J.W. Harvey Hamill
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Camp County Courthouse
Pittsburg, TX
The Texas Legislature created Camp County from part of Upshur County in 1874, and voters made Pittsburg the seat, raising a first courthouse in 1881. When the growing county outgrew that building, commissioners hired the Paris firm of Smith and Praeger to design a new Classical Revival courthouse, completed in December 1928 with its stepped parapet, arched windows, and Corinthian columns. It remains the center of county government.
Pittsburg
Pittsburg, TX
Anglo settlement of this corner of East Texas began in the 1850s, and the family of W. H. Pitts arrived from Georgia in 1854, soon joined by other newcomers from the southern states. Pitts donated land for a townsite that took his name, and when Camp County was organized from Upshur County in 1874, Pittsburg became its seat of government. Two railroad lines reached the area by 1880, the town incorporated in 1891, and it has remained the commercial and cultural hub of the county ever since.
Shootout at the Pittsburg Depot
Pittsburg, TX
On February 10, 1885, a tangled domestic dispute among George "Dallas" Smart, his wife Annie, and U.S. Army Lt. John W. Heard boiled over into a public confrontation at the Pittsburg railroad depot. As Heard prepared to leave town, a struggle egged on by the gathered crowd ended with Heard shooting and killing Smart. A county judge ruled it self-defense the next day, and after later clearing himself in a court-martial and another trial, Heard went on to a distinguished military career. Annie remarried and died in New Mexico Territory in 1900.
Pitts Family Cemetery
Pittsburg, TX
This burying ground was begun by William Harrison Pitts, the founder of Pittsburg, with the 1862 grave of his wife Sarah. The Pitts family had left their Georgia plantations to reestablish themselves on the Texas frontier in the mid-nineteenth century, and the plot soon held a Confederate corporal, Pitts's mother, and several of his siblings. Their arrival helped shape the young community of Camp County.