First United Methodist Church of Aransas Pass
Aransas Pass, San Patricio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Efforts to create a regional shipping center and port in this vicinity began in the middle 19th century. By 1890, plans were well underway to dig a ship channel and develop Aransas Harbor City. Residents of Aransas Harbor (now Aransas Pass) used a structure known as the Dwyer and Drummond Pavilion for meetings and events. On February 22, 1891, seven men and women met there and organized as the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, under the leadership of the Rev. J.W. Groves. The Rev. J.W. Sims arrived later that year to serve as pastor. Many of the church's early ministers lived in nearby Rockport, serving a congregation there and traveling to Aransas Pass twice monthly for Sunday services. First Methodist Church constructed its first sanctuary in late 1892 on what is now South McCampbell Street and shared it with the local Christian church, the second congregation to organize in the community. Rockport and Aransas Pass Methodists not only shared a pastor in the early years, but also met frequently for picnics and fellowship. Pastors serving the two congregations added an Ingleside charge, but in 1940 the Aransas Pass church established a full-time pastorate during a boom in the city's economy. Over the years, members of First Methodist built new facilities and survived several major storms. Following the devastation of Hurricane Celia in 1970, the church's Education Wing served as the Aransas Emergency Hospital for four months and the Fellowship Hall became a community communications center. Through outreach and service programs, as well as fellowship, worship, education and music, the congregation continues to support and sustain residents of Aransas Pass. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As boosters worked to dredge a ship channel and raise a port at Aransas Harbor, a handful of residents gathered in a pavilion in 1891 to organize the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Early ministers often lived in Rockport and rode over twice a month to preach, and the congregation shared its first 1892 sanctuary with the local Christian church. The church weathered decades of storms, and after Hurricane Celia struck in 1970 its buildings served as an emergency hospital and communications center for the battered town.
Why it matters
The congregation's history is woven into the rise of a Gulf Coast port city, and its storm-time service shows how a church became a lifeline for its community in crisis.
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Related people
- · Rev. J.W. Groves
- · Rev. J.W. Sims
Related events
- · Hurricane Celia (1970)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Terminal Railroad
Aransas Pass, TX
The original Aransas Harbor Terminal Railroad, built in 1892, hauled rock from mainland quarries to build the jetties guarding the pass. When a deep-water channel was dredged to Harbor Island, the displaced sediment formed a roadbed, and a new terminal railroad opened in 1912 along eight trestles, becoming an important cotton-shipping link. During World War I its "Toonerville Trolley"—coaches pulled by a converted Model T truck—carried workers to a Harbor Island shipyard. Business faded after Corpus Christi became a deep-water port in 1922.
Aransas Pass Light Station
Port Aransas, TX
Begun in 1855 and first lit in 1856, this 67-foot tower with its imported French lens marked the natural Gulf pass to Aransas and Corpus Christi Bays. During the Civil War, Confederates buried the lens and damaged the tower in 1863 to keep its light from aiding Federal forces. Rebuilt after the 1919 hurricane, it was finally decommissioned in 1952 once the shifting pass moved south of it.
Aransas Pass, C.S.A.
Port Aransas, TX
Aransas Pass, the natural inlet separating San Jose and Mustang Islands, became a strategically vital point along the Texas coast during the Civil War. Early on, Confederate vessels moved cotton and supplies freely through the pass, but a Union blockade soon tightened, and Federal forces under Captain J. W. Kittredge seized control until his capture in 1862. Control seesawed through 1863 and 1864, and after Union forces withdrew, Confederate ships again slipped supplies through the pass to sustain the wartime South.
U.S. Coast Guard on Mustang Island
Port Aransas, TX
To tame the treacherous Aransas Pass, the government established the first Aransas Life Saving Station on Mustang Island in 1878; when the 1919 hurricane destroyed it, successors carried on the work into the modern era. Woodrow Wilson's 1915 merger of the Revenue Cutter and Life Saving services created the U.S. Coast Guard, whose Mustang Island duties expanded from rescue to hunting enemy saboteurs with canine beach patrols in World War II and, later, to escorting military cargo and inspecting vessels in the War on Terror.