First United Methodist Church of Malakoff
Malakoff, Henderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1852 by the Rev. Hezekiah Mitcham (1800-1865), this fellowship began with six charter members who first held services in various locations throughout the county. In 1854 the small congregation erected one of the first Methodist church buildings in the county. A log cabin chinked with mud, it was located on land donated by Mitcham's son James in the small settlement of Caney Creek. The church was known as Mitcham Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the community also came to be called Mitcham Chapel. The town later was named Malakoff for a village in Russia that had gained recognition during the Crimean War (1853-55). The congregation grew steadily in its early years and provided service and leadership to the community. In 1883 the membership agreed to move to the relocated town of Malakoff, which had moved 1.5 miles southwest of the original townsite when the railroad came through three years earlier. Several sanctuaries, including one destroyed in a 1933 tornado, have served the church since the move. From its small beginnings, the First United Methodist Church of Malakoff has grown, while maintaining its important ties to early Methodist history in Texas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation began in 1852 when the Rev. Hezekiah Mitcham gathered six charter members in Henderson County, and by 1854 they had raised one of the county's first Methodist buildings — a log cabin chinked with mud at a settlement called Mitcham Chapel. The nearby town later took the name Malakoff after a Russian fortress made famous in the Crimean War. When the railroad shifted the town 1.5 miles in the early 1880s, the church moved with it, weathering a tornado and rebuildings across the generations.
Why it matters
The church's story maps the early spread of Methodism across frontier Texas and shows how railroads literally relocated whole communities in the 19th century.
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Related people
- · Hezekiah Mitcham
Themes & tags
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