Haynie Memorial Methodist Church
Rice, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. William Vaughn founded this church in 1874. The charter members were the families of J. M. Bartlett, B. M. and Mrs. J. A. Clopton, L. B. and W. D. Haynie, W. M. Holmes, J. M. Mitcham, E. E. and I. B. Sessions, and J. A. Ward. This site was donated to the church by W. M. Rice, official of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad and founder of Rice University, Houston. The present building, erected in 1908 and named in honor of steward W. D. Haynie, was dedicated in 1909, in the pastorate of the Rev. H. B. Henry, by Bishop Seth Ward.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1874 by the Rev. William Vaughn, this Methodist congregation grew alongside the little Navarro County town of Rice, on land donated by W. M. Rice—the Houston & Texas Central Railroad official whose fortune would later endow Rice University. The present sanctuary went up in 1908, named for steward W. D. Haynie, and was dedicated the following year. It stands as a record of how railroads, land gifts, and faith communities knit together the rural towns of Reconstruction-era Texas.
Why it matters
The church links a small Texas farm town to the railroad expansion and philanthropic wealth that shaped the Gilded Age, including the founding of a major American university.
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Related people
- · William Vaughn
- · W. D. Haynie
- · W. M. Rice
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church of Rice
Rice, TX
This congregation organized in February 1875, just a few years after a rail line reached the area and drew settlers to what became the town of Rice. Early worshippers gathered in the community schoolhouse before building a sanctuary in 1894 on land acquired from an organization founded by railroad magnate William Marsh Rice, the town's namesake. For well over a century the church has remained a fixture of local life.
The Fortson Family
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The Fortson family came from Mississippi to Navarro County in the 1840s, and Civil War veteran James T. Fortson married into another pioneer family before settling near Rice. His son Joe B. and brother John built up large farming and ranching holdings and became local pillars—running a cotton gin and mercantile, founding the First State Bank of Rice, and organizing levee districts to aid area farmers. Joe B. also served on the school board, and the family's home was built at this site in 1904.
Alma
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Settlers reached this stretch of Ellis County as early as 1848, but the town of Alma was truly born in 1871 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad laid track through the county. Landowner C.C. Hemming gave part of his property for the right-of-way and named the new town for his daughter. A busy farming center for decades, Alma faded after the 1950s when Interstate 45 was cut straight through its heart.
Chatfield United Methodist Church
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Methodism took root in this Navarro County community in 1846, when the Rev. J. E. Ferguson — whose son would one day govern Texas — preached to local believers. Chatfield's founder Robert Hodge built a brush arbor for camp meetings at his spring and later donated a lodge hall where worshippers of every faith gathered for years. Not until 1886 did the Methodists receive their own site; the congregation peaked in 1896, and after a storm destroyed the original building in 1937, the present church rose the following year.