Grace United Methodist Church
Bremond, Robertson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation was founded in 1868 as the Bremond Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with the Rev. John R. White serving as pastor. The earliest worship services were held in private homes or in the community's Union church. Two early Methodist church buildings were rebuilt after damage from windstorms, and a new sanctuary replaced the one lost in a 1949 fire. The congregation changed its name to "Grace Methodist Church" in the 1950s.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Grace United Methodist Church traces its roots to 1868, when it was founded as the Bremond Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with the Rev. John R. White as pastor. Its earliest services were held in private homes and the town's shared Union church. Windstorms and a 1949 fire destroyed successive buildings, each rebuilt, and the congregation took the name 'Grace' in the 1950s.
Why it matters
Founded just after the Civil War, this congregation reflects the divided Methodist churches of the era and the resilience of small-town Texas faith communities through repeated disasters.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- ยท John R. White
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church of Bremond
Bremond, TX
Local lore dates this Baptist congregation to 1865, though the earliest records show it active by 1869, meeting first in vacant store buildings under the Rev. Mr. Harris. A red brick church rose on this site in 1871, and the growing congregation joined a succession of Baptist associations through the late nineteenth century. In 1945 a storm destroyed the original roof on the very night plans for new facilities advanced, and members funded a modern building completed in 1946.
Wootan Wells
Bremond, TX
When Francis Wootan dug a well here in 1878, the water discolored dishes and clothing yet seemed to work small miracles on the ailing โ and a health resort was born. By 1879 hotels, a bottling works, a dance pavilion, and a school had sprung up as socialites traveled for miles to "take the waters" in the fashion of America's Gilded Age spa craze. Fire ended the dream, sweeping the town in 1915 and consuming the last buildings in 1921.
Walnut Creek Cemetery
Bremond, TX
The Walnut Creek community took root in the 1850s as farming families settled this stretch of Robertson County. Its cemetery is said to have begun before 1869 with the burial of a horse trader's young daughter beneath a cedar tree, on land given by settler J. Grant Taylor, who later donated acreage for a burial ground, meetinghouse, and school. Church congregations and classes gathered here until the school consolidated with Bremond during World War II.
Site of Extinct Town of Hammond
Calvert, TX
Dr. Ben F. Hammond arrived from Alabama in 1853 and built a plantation nearby, and when he granted right-of-way to the Houston & Texas Central Railroad in 1869 a depot, post office, and a few stores sprang up to ship planters' goods. As the railroad's fortunes faded, the town withered and had vanished by 1950. Many area residents today descend from the people whom Hammond and neighboring planters gave land to at Emancipation in 1865.