First United Methodist Church of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1893, the same year the Rock Island rail line reached the Bridgeport area, this congregation first held its worship services under brush arbors and in the Masonic Lodge building. Methodist circuit rider Ben W. Bounds preached the first sermon on June 23 of that year. Within the first year of the church's founding, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Johns donated land for a church building on what became known as "Methodist Hill." The Methodists in Bridgeport worshiped in their new space until it burned and was rebuilt during the pastorate of the Rev. Jack Lowry at the end of the 19th century. Growth and development throughout the 20th century resulted in the First Methodist Church moving to a new site with expanded facilities in the 1960s. As Bridgeport grew from a coal mining town to a commercial center for area ranchers and dairy farmers to a popular tourist destination for visitors to Lake Bridgeport, the Methodist church has maintained its active commitment to the community. Outreach and education programs play a strong role in the congregation's mission and ministry. For more than 100 years, the First United Methodist Church of Bridgeport has been a significant part of the town's religious heritage. (2001)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the Rock Island rail line reached the Bridgeport area in 1893, a Methodist congregation organized the very same year, first gathering under brush arbors and in the Masonic Lodge before circuit rider Ben W. Bounds preached its first sermon that June. A donation of land soon gave the church a home on "Methodist Hill," a building later lost to fire and rebuilt. As Bridgeport shifted from coal-mining town to ranch-and-dairy trade center and finally lake resort, the congregation stayed woven into community life.
Why it matters
Frontier churches like this one arrived with the railroads that made North Texas towns possible, anchoring scattered settlers into lasting communities.
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Related people
- · Ben W. Bounds
- · Jack Lowry
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hunt, Col. William Hudson
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Born in New York in 1815, William Hudson Hunt came to Texas in 1836 to join the fight for independence, then served the young Republic as a soldier and surveyor—helping locate the site of the capital and joining the Santa Fe Expedition. In 1855 he pioneered Wise County, building a ranch on the West Fork of the Trinity, laying out the town that became Decatur, and helping route the Butterfield Overland Mail through the county. His remains were reinterred here after Lake Bridgeport flooded his family cemetery.
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