First Methodist Church of Turkey
Turkey, Hall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. J. D. Terry and seven charter members organized the Elizabeth Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on September 8, 1891, at the home of W. M. & Elizabeth Cooper. Worship services were held in homes and in the nearby Wolf Flat Community Schoolhouse until 1907. In that year a frame sanctuary and parsonage were completed. After a 1928 tornado destroyed the church building, the members built a basement structure and worshiped there until 1948, when an above-ground addition was completed. The church continues to serve the community. (1991)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On a September day in 1891, a circuit-era minister and seven charter members gathered in a Hall County home to organize a Methodist congregation on the Texas Panhandle plains. For years they worshiped in homes and a community schoolhouse before raising a frame sanctuary in 1907, only to see a 1928 tornado level it — after which they simply built a basement and kept meeting until an above-ground church was finished in 1948. The congregation's endurance through storm and hardship mirrors the grit of the ranching country around Turkey.
Why it matters
Frontier congregations like this one were often the first stable institutions in newly settled country, binding scattered families into a community that could weather even a tornado.
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Themes & tags
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