Methodism in Eagle Lake
Eagle Lake, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Methodism in Eagle Lake The United Methodist Church of Eagle Lake is the oldest Protestant congregation in the community. By 1864, Emma Tracy Rhine started the first private school in Eagle Lake. The one-room schoolhouse served as the first church meeting house in 1872, when circuit rider Orceneth Fisher organized a Methodist church and Sunday school. Emma Rhine organized the first Ladies Aid Society in the same year, establishing a tradition of women's groups in the church. The Methodists met in the schoolhouse until 1880, when the community built a union church. The Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian and Christian congregations shared the facility until each could build its own sanctuary. In May 1899, J.K. Davidson, James A. Harbert, R.B. Dobbins and W.Y. Westmoreland, trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, bought land on Lake Street. The Rev. R.E. Nunn directed the construction of a brick sanctuary and a parsonage. In 1939, John Robert and Otera (Fussell) Colly donated land and money for a new Methodist church, named Colly Memorial Methodist Church, in momory of their 17-year-old daughter Bobby. She died the year before by electrocution in a swimming pool; a stained glass window behind the altar was given in memory of A.W. Braun, who died trying to save her. The church facilities expanded with educational buildings and a new parsonage. The church moved one block away to the former Eagle Lake High School site in 1976. The stained glass window and a historic bell moved with the congregation, which changed its name to the United Methodist Church of Eagle Lake. More than a century after its founding, the church continues to play a significant roll in the community. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In a small Colorado County town, Methodism took root through a schoolhouse: by 1864 Emma Tracy Rhine had opened the community's first private school, and in 1872 the circuit rider Orceneth Fisher organized a Methodist congregation there. For decades the faithful shared a union church with Baptists, Episcopalians and others until each could build its own sanctuary, and in 1939 a grieving family gave land for the Colly Memorial church in memory of a daughter lost too young.
Why it matters
The story captures how frontier congregations, circuit riders, and women's aid societies built the civic and spiritual backbone of countless small American towns.
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Related people
- · Emma Tracy Rhine
- · Orceneth Fisher
Themes & tags
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