First United Methodist Church of Columbus
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of the earliest Protestant congregations in Texas; founded in Austin's original colony. The first church building was near the Colorado, on a lot " sold" for $1.00 by Isam Tooke in 1848, and an adjoining lot bought in 1849 from George W. Smith. The Rev. J. E. Kolbe was then pastor; trustees were Eli Clapp, W. B. DeWees, Thomas Neavitt, Henry Terrell, I. Tooke, and Asa Townsend. In 1873, a second church was built just south of the railroad. Present site was given by Mrs. Sarah E. Stafford, and a new church was completed in July 1897, under the Rev. S. F. Chambers, pastor.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
One of the earliest Protestant congregations in Texas, this Methodist church traces its roots to Stephen F. Austin's original colony and built its first sanctuary near the Colorado River in 1848 on a lot sold for a single dollar. It moved and rebuilt as Columbus grew, raising a new church south of the railroad in 1873 and its present site's building in 1897. Its long list of early trustees reads like a roster of the town's founding families.
Why it matters
Congregations dating to Austin's colony mark the arrival of organized Anglo-American religious and civic life in Mexican Texas, a foundation laid a generation before statehood.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
This congregation's roots go back to Stephen F. Austin's original colony, the first large Anglo-American settlement in what was then Mexican Texas. Starting in the 1820s, Austin brought families into the fertile river bottoms of the Brazos and Colorado, and the Columbus area on the Colorado River was among the earliest places they settled.
Religion on that frontier was complicated. Under Mexican law, Roman Catholicism was the official faith, and Protestant worship had no legal standing. Protestant settlers often met informally and quietly, and organized Protestant churches only began to flourish after Texas independence in 1836 opened the door to missionaries and denominations.
By the late 1840s, when this congregation acquired its first lots, Texas had joined the United States, and towns like Columbus were settling into permanent community life. Later in the century the railroad arrived and changed where the town grew and where its institutions chose to build.
People & events
The church's first building stood near the Colorado River on a lot Isam Tooke "sold" in 1848 for a single dollar. The quotation marks on the marker hint at the truth: it was really a gift, dressed up as a sale to make the transfer legally clean. In 1849 the congregation bought an adjoining lot from George W. Smith, giving the young church room to grow.
At the time the Rev. J. E. Kolbe served as pastor, and the trustees were a roster of local settlers: Eli Clapp, W. B. DeWees, Thomas Neavitt, Henry Terrell, I. Tooke and Asa Townsend. These were the people who handled deeds, money and building plans, the practical work that turns a group of worshipers into a lasting institution.
As Columbus changed, so did the church. In 1873 the congregation built a second church just south of the railroad, following the town's center of gravity. Later Mrs. Sarah E. Stafford gave the present site, and a new church was completed in July 1897 under the Rev. S. F. Chambers. Over half a century, one congregation built three churches, each marking a new stage in the town's life.
Its place in the American story
Congregations like this one show how American religious life moved west with settlers and put down roots even in places where it was officially unwelcome. Methodism in particular spread with remarkable energy across the American frontier, carried by preachers and lay leaders who formed congregations wherever families gathered.
The story of this church also mirrors the larger arc of Texas: from Mexican province to independent republic to American state. A faith community whose roots predate statehood, and that was able to organize openly once Texas was independent, sits right at the center of that transformation.
Its moves, from the riverbank to the railroad to a donated site, follow a pattern seen across nineteenth-century America. Rivers set the first towns, then railroads reshaped them, and churches, as central gathering places, followed where people lived and traded.
If you visit
Columbus is one of the oldest Anglo-American towns in Texas, and you can feel that layered history as you walk its streets. Seeing this church helps you picture how the community grew, first along the Colorado River and then toward the railroad.
As you stand at the site, think of the three churches the marker describes: the first one by the river, the second south of the tracks, and the 1897 church on land given by Sarah Stafford. Each one marks a choice a congregation made about where its future lay.
Columbus is an easy stop between Houston and San Antonio, which makes it a natural break on an Interstate 10 road trip. Give yourself time to explore the historic town center and the riverside setting where Austin's colonists first made their homes.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · J. E. Kolbe
- · Sarah E. Stafford
- · Isam Tooke
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Stafford Opera House
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Millionaire cattleman R. E. Stafford built this grand opera house in 1886, hiring famed Texas architect Nicholas Clayton to design an interior that seated a thousand beneath gas chandeliers and an elaborate hand-painted curtain. Its opening performance starred the celebrated Lillian Russell, and magician Harry Houdini later played its stage — audiences arriving on special trains from distant towns.
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Born in South Carolina and raised in Georgia, Asa Townsend moved his large family from Florida to Colorado County, Texas, in 1838. A civic leader, he served on the committee advocating Texas's 1845 annexation to the United States and belonged to the Colorado River Navigation Association. During Reconstruction he organized ventures into Mexico and remained active in the Methodist church and Masonic lodges.
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By 1822 Stephen F. Austin had drawn some 150 families to his colony on the Colorado and Brazos rivers, where fear of Indian raids was constant. After the Mexican governor Trespalacios organized local defense, colonists in 1823 raised a small company under Moses Morrison, and Austin pledged ten more men at his own expense to serve as "Rangers." Though the Texas Rangers were not formally organized until 1835, these earliest ranging companies became the model for the force that followed.
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