Menard Chapel Church, School, and Cemetery
Livingston, Polk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Michel B. Menard, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and his brother Pierre J. settled here in 1833. According to local tradition sometime prior to 1854 the Mt. Gileard Baptist Church built a small sanctuary here in Menard Chapel, a farm and ranch community which developed along Menard Creek. Shortly after the Civil War ended Mrs. E. O. Rhoden donated 2 acres here for church and school purposes. The Baptist congregation constructed a new church building which for many decades served as a house of worship as well as a schoolhouse for the Menard Chapel School. Early teacher A. A. Duff also served as pastor. Another early teacher, V. A. Collins, went on to serve Polk County as Texas state senator. The school was discontinued in 1935 when it was consolidated with the Livingston Independent School district. The cemetery was established with the burial of Rutha Nicholas in 1876. Church and cemetery acreage was set aside in a deed executed by Eli and Unity Rhoden in 1902. A new sanctuary, built here in the 1920s, served as a place of worship until 1983. The cemetery is maintained with perpetual care funds by the Menard Chapel Cemetery Committee. Veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II are buried here.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The community here traces to 1833, when Michel B. Menard — later a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence — and his brother Pierre settled along Menard Creek. A Baptist congregation built an early sanctuary before mid-century, and after the Civil War a donated tract gave the settlement a combined church and schoolhouse that taught local children for decades; one early teacher went on to the state senate. The school closed with consolidation in 1935, but the church served into the 1980s, and the cemetery — holding veterans of three wars — is still cared for today.
Why it matters
Menard Chapel shows how a single frontier building often served as church, school, and civic hall at once, the shared heart of a rural Texas community from the Republic era onward.
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Related people
- · Michel B. Menard
- · Pierre J. Menard
- · V. A. Collins
Themes & tags
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