First United Methodist Church of Eastland
Eastland, Eastland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Methodist worship services were held in Eastland County as early as 1865. Soon after the town of Eastland was laid out in 1875, Methodists began meeting in a small log house. The congregation was organized and served for a time by the Rev. Melville B. Johnson, a circuit rider. Soon after this property was purchased in 1882, a building known as the "Little White Church" was constructed. It served the congregation until a new sanctuary was completed during the Eastland County oil boom of the 1920s. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Methodists were worshiping in Eastland County as early as 1865, and soon after the town of Eastland was platted in 1875 they gathered in a small log house under circuit rider Melville B. Johnson. In 1882 they built the beloved "Little White Church," which served until the Eastland County oil boom of the 1920s brought the growth—and the money—for a new sanctuary.
Why it matters
The congregation's humble log-house beginnings and oil-boom expansion mirror the boom-and-bust story of West Texas towns transformed by petroleum.
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Related people
- · Melville B. Johnson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Eastland
Eastland, TX
Eastland took its name from William M. Eastland, a hero of the Texas War for Independence executed in the infamous 1842 "Black Bean" lottery after the Mier Expedition. Comanches long resisted settlement here, with the county's last recorded raid in 1874, and the town became county seat in 1875. A 1917 oil strike touched off one of Texas's fabled booms that swelled the population toward 25,000 and drew celebrities — and in 1928 the town made worldwide news when "Old Rip," a horned toad sealed in the old courthouse cornerstone in 1897, was found alive.
Eastland County Courthouse
Eastland, TX
Eastland County was created in 1858 but sat so thinly settled that it was not organized until 1873, and its county seat bounced between Merriman, the new town of Eastland, and rival Cisco through a string of hard-fought elections. The Texas & Pacific Railway's arrival in 1880 spurred growth, and the oil and gas booms of the 1910s and 1920s bankrolled a grand Art Deco courthouse, opened in 1928 with carved eagles, shields, and a central tower. The building also gained fame as the home of "Old Rip," a horned toad legend said to have survived sealed in the previous courthouse cornerstone.
Early Banking in Eastland
Eastland, TX
Eastland's banks rose and fell with local fortunes, beginning soon after the Texas and Pacific Railway reached town in 1880 and a merchant opened the first bank inside a dry goods store. A wave of new institutions followed the 1917 discovery of the nearby Ranger Oil Field, when the town's population leapt from 1,000 to over 9,000 and county banks numbered eighteen. Oil decline, the 1929 crash, and Depression-era runs wiped out bank after bank, leaving Eastland without one until a new Eastland National Bank opened in 1934 amid strengthened federal banking regulations.
Prairie Oil and Gas Company Housing
Eastland, TX
The Eastland County oil boom of 1917–1922 remade the town, funding many of its public and residential buildings. In 1919 the Prairie Oil and Gas Company built housing here for its officials, including this two-story home occupied by Eastland superintendent W. I. Clark. Sinclair Oil bought the operation in 1932 and sold the houses to private owners a few years later.