Hardin Methodist Church
Hardin, Liberty County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation traces its history to 1876 when the Reverend J. R. D. Taylor (1851-1882) established a Methodist church named China Grove. Early worship services were held in a log church building located nearby. A chapel was constructed in 1886 on land donated by Liberty businessman William F. "Bee" Hardin. The edifice was named Smith's Chapel Methodist Church in honor of the Reverend John A. Smith, pastor from 1884-86. The church again changed its name and in 1910 became known as Hardin Chapel Methodist Church. Renovations were made to the church building in 1910. The congregation began holding regular services in 1916 and also established a Sunday School. A new sanctuary was erected in 1939, but was destroyed by fire in 1958. Services were held in the Hardin schoolhouse until a new structure was completed in November 1958. Property was deeded in 1960 for a parsonage and a brick building was soon completed. Additional land adjoining the church property was donated in 1994. An integral part of the community, the church remains active as it has for more than 120 years. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Liberty County congregation traces its roots to 1876, when the Rev. J. R. D. Taylor established a Methodist church called China Grove, holding early services in a nearby log building. A chapel went up in 1886 on land donated by businessman William F. "Bee" Hardin, and the church changed names over the years, becoming Hardin Chapel Methodist Church by 1910. Fire destroyed a 1939 sanctuary in 1958, but the congregation rebuilt and has remained active for more than 120 years.
Why it matters
The church's long, name-changing history mirrors the endurance of small rural congregations at the heart of East Texas community life.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. R. D. Taylor
- · William F. "Bee" Hardin
- · John A. Smith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
William Hardin
Liberty, TX
William Hardin, born in Georgia in 1801, became a leading figure in the Anglo settlement that grew into Liberty, Texas. He served as alcalde and first judge of the Liberty municipality and was a delegate to the Convention of 1833, one of the gatherings that pressed Mexican Texas toward autonomy and, ultimately, revolution. He died in Galveston in 1839, in the early years of the Republic he helped shape.
Benjamin W. Hardin
Liberty, TX
Benjamin Watson Hardin, born in Georgia in 1796, served in the Ninth Congress of the Republic of Texas and as sheriff of Liberty County. His public life placed him among the men who staffed the young Republic's fragile government and enforced its laws on the frontier. He died in Liberty County in 1850, having helped guide it through the transition into statehood.
Augustine B. Hardin
Liberty, TX
Augustine B. Hardin, born in Georgia in 1798, was among the fifty-nine men who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. That document, adopted at Washington-on-the-Brazos as Santa Anna's army advanced, formally severed Texas from Mexico. Hardin lent his name to the cause and lived out his years in the Liberty County that his generation helped found.
Gillard - Duncan House
Liberty, TX
Dr. E. J. Gillard moved his family from Louisiana to Texas in 1845 and about 1848 raised this home of native woods on his plantation east of Liberty. Its Greek Revival lines carry Creole touches from his Louisiana background, along with unusual features like a traveler's room and an upstairs schoolroom. The house passed down through the Duncan and Welder descendants and was relocated to its present spot in 1980.