Mullin United Methodist Church
Mullin, Mills County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Charles Mullins, for whom this town was later named, came here with cattle in 1857. By tradition, a Methodist circuit rider preached at his home. The date of the church's founding is uncertain. Worship was held in Mullin Schoolhouse for years. In 1893, Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Martin gave this site and in 1896 a building was constructed under leadership of The Rev. Marion Mills. After a 1919 cyclone wrecked that building the present native stone church was erected in 1920, using much material from original structure.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Charles Mullins, the town's namesake, arrived with cattle in 1857, and tradition holds that a Methodist circuit rider preached in his home. The congregation worshiped in the Mullin schoolhouse for years before J. E. Martin and his wife donated this site in 1893 and a building rose in 1896 under the Rev. Marion Mills. After a 1919 cyclone wrecked that structure, the present native-stone church was raised in 1920 using much of the original material.
Why it matters
The church traces the arc of a Central Texas ranching community from open-range beginnings to a settled town rebuilding after disaster.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- ¡ Charles Mullins
- ¡ Marion Mills
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Settlement of Williams Ranch
Mullin, TX
Williams Ranch grew up around the 1855 homestead of cattleman John Williams and boomed during the Civil War on trade with Mexico, becoming a stage stop and roundup point on the western cattle trail. By the early 1880s it topped 250 people and boasted the first hotel, newspaper, telegraph, and school in the area â and was even floated as a site for the University of Texas. When the railroad bypassed it in 1885 the town declined, and by 1892 its post office and businesses had closed, leaving only springs and a pioneer cemetery.
John Williams
Mullin, TX
A North Carolinian by birth, John Williams came to this stretch of central Texas in 1855 and became one of the first permanent settlers of what are now Brown and Mills counties. He helped establish the region's early cattle industry, and the settlement of Williams Ranch grew up around his homestead while nearby Herd Pen Branch took its name from his roundup pens. With his wife Annie he raised six children who became pioneers of the community in their own right.
Williams Ranch Cemetery
Mullin, TX
Overlooking the springs that gave rise to the frontier settlement of Williams Ranch, this cemetery sits on land granted to William W. Williams in 1852 and settled by John and Annie Williams in 1855. Its first marked grave, from 1864, is that of a six-year-old great-grandson killed in a horse accident. Granite, limestone, and cast-iron markers record pioneers and their descendants, including veterans from the Civil War to the Korean War.
Site of Chesser Valley Community
Mullin, TX
Chesser Valley took its name from John Dan Chesser, a Missouri native who came to Texas in 1854 and, after serving in the Texas State Troops during the Civil War, homesteaded 160 acres here with his wife Elizabeth. Their expanding log home doubled as church, hospital, and travelers' hotel, and the valley became a gathering place for camp meetings where families came by wagon to worship under a brush tabernacle. A one-teacher school opened in 1868, but after the Chesser house burned in 1926 the little community all but vanished.