First United Methodist Church of Elkhart
Elkhart, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The First Methodist service held in this area was in 1840, when a group of citizens formed a small congregation that met in private homes. In 1878 a Methodist mission was established in Elkhart. The Rev. J. F. Henderson, a circuit riding minister, was in charge of this as well as seven other missions in his district. In its first fifteen years, the church was served by nine different clergymen. By November 1892, the congregation had grown such that plans were made to build a sanctuary. A white frame structure was erected, with a high steeple and bell tower on one corner. A Sunday School program began, and in 1907 the church created a youth ministry which continued over the years to form the Methodist Youth Fellowship. A missionary society was formed in 1915 by the women of the church. In late 1930, under the leadership of the Rev. J. L. Webb, a new church building program was begun. A one-story structure was completed in 1933, and a second story was added in 1939. A brick parsonage was built near the church in the 1950s, and by 1971 the need for a new sanctuary had arisen. The addition was made onto the northeast side of the old church, and was consecrated on September 14, 1974. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Methodism reached this part of Anderson County in 1840, when settlers gathered to worship in one another's homes, and in 1878 a formal mission took shape under a circuit-riding minister who tended eight congregations at once. From a white frame sanctuary with a high steeple raised in the 1890s, the church added a Sunday school, a youth ministry, and a women's missionary society, rebuilding and expanding across the decades to a new sanctuary consecrated in 1974. Its long life traces the settlement and maturing of Elkhart itself.
Why it matters
The overworked circuit rider tending eight congregations is a defining image of frontier religion, showing how faith spread across a thinly settled land faster than churches could be built.
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Related people
- · J. F. Henderson
- · J. L. Webb
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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