First United Methodist Church of Cisco
Cisco, Eastland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. Lamb Trimble, a Methodist circuit rider, organized this church at Red Gap (two miles west) in 1880. The four charter members met in the home of M.V. Mitchell, a sheep rancher. The congregation moved to Cisco one year later when the city was founded. Services were held in the schoolhouse until 1883 when the members built a sanctuary on this site. A company purchasing right of way property for the railroad donated the land. An 1889 building program, completed during the pastorate of the Rev. T.C. Ragsdale, doubled the size of the structure and added a parsonage. Both buildings were destroyed in 1893 when a tornado struck Cisco killing 23 people and injuring 93 others. Members formed a rebuilding committee and a larger sanctuary and parsonage were constructed, complete with electric lighting. The population growth of Cisco during the Eastland County oil boom made the sanctuary obsolete, and in 1919 work began on a new church building. The Rev. Lewis N. Stuckey conducted the first services when the edifice was dedicated late in 1920. On two separate occasions Cisco headed a district for the Central Texas Methodist Conference until consolidation with Brownwood in 1974. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Methodist circuit rider Lamb Trimble organized this congregation at Red Gap in 1880, West Texas was still frontier country served by preachers who rode from settlement to settlement. The church followed the new town of Cisco when it was founded a year later, worshiping in a schoolhouse until a railroad company donated land for its first sanctuary in 1883. A devastating 1893 tornado that killed 23 people leveled the buildings, but members rebuilt—later riding the Eastland County oil boom of the 1920s to a grand new edifice dedicated in 1920.
Why it matters
The church's story traces the arc of small-town Texas itself—from circuit-riding frontier faith through railroad-town growth, natural disaster, and the transformative oil boom that reshaped the region.
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Related people
- · Lamb Trimble
- · M.V. Mitchell
- · T.C. Ragsdale
- · Lewis N. Stuckey
Related events
- · 1893 Cisco tornado
- · Eastland County oil boom
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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