Friberg-Cooper Methodist Church
Friberg, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation first gathered to worship in local farmer A. W. Friberg's granary in 1896, using hay bales as seats. Largely due to the generosity of the Carey, Andree, and Friberg families, the congregation was able to build its first sanctuary, the Friberg Methodist Episcopal Church, here in 1902, naming it after charter members John and Mary Friberg. After the structure burned in 1938, the present sanctuary was built around the original cornerstone. A merger with Cooper Methodist congregation in 1947 strengthened the church, which remains a focal point of this rural community. (1991)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation first gathered in 1896 in farmer A. W. Friberg's granary, worshipping on hay bales, and by 1902 had built its first sanctuary, named for charter members John and Mary Friberg. After fire destroyed that building in 1938, the present church was raised around the original cornerstone, and a 1947 merger with the Cooper congregation kept it the heart of this rural Wichita County community.
Why it matters
It illustrates how immigrant farm families on the North Texas plains built enduring community institutions from the humblest of beginnings.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · A. W. Friberg
- · John Friberg
- · Mary Friberg
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Near Homesite of Mabel Gilbert
Burkburnett, TX
A Tennessee-born steamboat captain who reached Texas in 1837, Gilbert built mills and was among the first to navigate the upper Trinity River before filing for land here in 1856. He raised his cabin by a spring, dug a trench to fend off buffalo herds, and endured repeated raids that drove his family away and back again; his daughter Hettie, born in 1860, is remembered as the county's first known white child, and the peach trees he planted long guided arriving pioneers.
George Alonzo Soule
Wichita Falls, TX
George Alonzo Soule ran freight and stage lines in Jacksboro and Fort Griffin before following the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad to Wichita Falls in 1883. From this site near the business district he hauled passengers and goods across North Texas and into Oklahoma—occasionally at the mercy of highwaymen—until rail traffic finally overtook the stagecoach and he shifted to running livery barns.
Wichita Falls Bank Robbery of 1896
Wichita Falls, TX
On a February afternoon in 1896, cowboys Foster Crawford and Elmer "Kid" Lewis robbed the City National Bank in Wichita Falls, killing cashier Frank Dorsey and fleeing with about $410. A posse of citizens and Texas Rangers ran them down that night, but the law's work was undone the next evening when a mob dragged the pair from jail and lynched them before the bank. The episode captured the raw and volatile justice of the frontier town.
Joseph Hudson Barwise
Wichita Falls, TX
An Ohio native, Joseph Hudson Barwise brought his family to Wichita County in 1880 and became one of its guiding figures. He earned the nickname "Father of Wichita Falls" by donating land to lure the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway through the area, ensuring the young town's growth. A three-term county judge and tireless booster, Barwise helped shape the community before his burial in Riverside Cemetery.