First United Methodist Church of Odem
Odem, San Patricio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. F. H. Barnhouse held the first recorded church services in the city of Odem in the home of J. W. Wright in 1909. Soon after, Sunday School services were held in the vacant store that was formerly the site of the Gisler blacksmith shop at 400 Main Street. In 1910-11 the First Methodist Church of Odem was organized under the leadership of the Rev. J. A. Pledger. The Rev. W. N. Carl organized the congregation's efforts to build its first small church building at 401 Main Street. There were nine charter members: Mr. and Mrs. George Humphries, Sr., George Humphries, Jr., Otto Humphries, Alva Humphries, Zula Humphries, Jarred B. Clark, Mrs. Anna Clark and Miss Lula Williams. The congregation grew, and in 1922 the first parsonage was purchased at 306 Kline Street. The Rev. W. F. Buss was the first pastor to live there. Through the years several hurricanes damaged the original church building. In 1949 the congregation broke ground to build a new sanctuary. The old frame church was dismantled and its lumber used in the construction of the new building. Services were held in the Odem High School auditorium until the new building was completed in 1951. The new sanctuary had stained glass windows paid for by family donations, and in 1964 an electric carillon was placed on the roof. The sanctuary was badly damaged by hurricane Celia in 1970 but repairs were covered by insurance and volunteer labor. The First United Methodist Church of Odem continues to thrive and has grown to include educational services and supports numerous civic activities in Odem. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The first recorded church services in Odem were held in a private home in 1909, and by 1910–11 the Methodists had organized under visiting pastors and built a small frame church with just nine charter members. As the congregation and town grew together, a parsonage was added in 1922 and a new sanctuary rose in 1949 using lumber salvaged from the old building. Hurricanes battered the church repeatedly, but each time volunteers and insurance rebuilt it.
Why it matters
It traces how a handful of families planted an enduring congregation in a new coastal-plain town, weathering the Gulf storms that shaped South Texas life.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Odem First Baptist Church
Odem, TX
On April 28, 1912, the Baptists of Odem organized their own congregation with the help of a traveling missionary, meeting at first once a month in the Methodist church before land was donated for a frame sanctuary. Through donated labor, a Depression-era building, and a World War II that cost the church a member and made materials scarce, the congregation kept building—raising a brick sanctuary in 1951 and education wings in the decades after. Traditions like its harvest-day fundraiser have carried across a full century.
Meansville and Kaleta
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Col. William Marshall Means, a veteran of the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, settled here in the 1850s and served as county sheriff, and a Methodist-built two-story hall became the heart of Meansville. The community's promise collapsed after 1876, when a shooting spree by the colonel's sons led to a deadly manhunt, the killing of Means and a sheriff, and finally a Texas Ranger order forcing the family out. Nearby Kaleta rose and faded in turn, its school and post office gone and the town wiped from the map by the great storm of 1919.
White Point/Rosita
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Bethel Baptist Church of Christ and Cemetery
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