First Methodist Church of Texas City
Texas City, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This church began with informal Methodist meetings attended by a small group of newly arrived families to Texas City in 1894. The congregation grew and became Texas City's first formally organized church in 1896. The Rev. E. L. Ashmore, a member of the Gulf Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) served as the congregation's first paid pastor. Compelled to seek a secure location after much of Texas City was destroyed in the 1900 storm, the congregation built its first sanctuary at the corner of 3rd Ave. N and 3rd Street by late 1900. A split between the older "northern" and newer "southern" factions of the church led to the formation of the separate Central Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1907. Although Central Methodist Church initially struggled, their sanctuary, built at the corner of 4th Street and 6th Ave. N about 1913, eventually housed a congregation larger than that of its parent church. The two congregations joined in 1938, before the denominational reunion, to form the First Methodist Church. In 1940, during the pastorate of the Rev. F. Clyde Woodward, the congregation built a new sanctuary at 5th ave. N and 4th Street. The church was renamed the First United Methodist Church in 1968.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation grew from informal Methodist gatherings among families newly arrived to Texas City in 1894, becoming the town's first organized church two years later. When the 1900 Galveston hurricane leveled much of the area, the congregation rebuilt; a split between "northern" and "southern" Methodist factions in 1907 spawned a rival church that eventually outgrew its parent, before the two reunited in 1938 to form First Methodist.
Why it matters
The church's history mirrors the founding, near-destruction, and rebirth of an entire Gulf Coast town, as well as the North-South denominational divide that lingered in American Protestantism long after the Civil War.
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Related people
- · Rev. E. L. Ashmore
- · Rev. F. Clyde Woodward
Related events
- · 1900 Galveston hurricane
Themes & tags
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