HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Methodist Church, 1844

College Mound, Kaufman County, Texas

Marker Inscription

In 1844 A. J. Beck, Henry Beck, Wilson Fogleman, A. H. Henry, W. T. Patton, Ed. King settled in this vicinity. A Methodist church was organized in 1845 with Rev. J. W. Fields as pastor; A. H. Henry, Ed. King, stewards; A. H. Henry, Sunday School Superintendent. In 1865 a frame building replaced the log church. In 1897 the present building was constructed; the land for the church was donated by W.T. Patton

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

In 1844, as Texas stood as an independent republic, a cluster of families settled this Kaufman County vicinity and organized a Methodist congregation the following year under its first pastor. A log meetinghouse gave way to a frame building in 1865, and the present structure rose in 1897 on land donated by one of the original settlers. The church traces an unbroken thread from Republic-era pioneers through the community that grew up around it.

Why it matters

It captures how frontier families planted enduring religious and civic institutions in the earliest days of Anglo-American settlement in North Texas.

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Related people

  • · Rev. J. W. Fields
  • · A. H. Henry
  • · W. T. Patton

Themes & tags

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