Pleasant Mound Methodist Church
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation traces its history to a Union Church in Scyene, a small farming community once located at the present intersection of Scyene and St. Augustine Roads in Dallas. The first church in the community was a two-story community meeting house that also served as a general store, Masonic Lodge, and school. Several denominations worshiped together, a tradition which continued after the Methodists built a log sanctuary in 1876. In 1878 the church moved to the Pleasant Mound Community (then 3 miles east of Dallas, now within the city). Newton J. and Catherine Beeman Hustead donated land at the northwest corner of Scyene Road and Buckner Boulevard for a church and cemetery. A new house of worship, completed in 1881, was replaced by a larger structure in 1885. A growing membership and storm damage to the building led to the construction of another sanctuary in 1895. After 1900 the other denominations that had been meeting with the Methodists began to form their own congregations. Members of the various congregations met together for annual homecomings from 1910 to 1953. Land at this site was purchased, and a new Methodist sanctuary was completed in 1954.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation grew from a shared frontier meeting house in the farming hamlet of Scyene, a two-story building that doubled as store, Masonic lodge, and school where several denominations worshiped side by side. The Methodists built a log sanctuary in 1876 and relocated to the Pleasant Mound community in 1878, replacing their buildings repeatedly as membership grew. The tradition of shared worship gave way to separate congregations after 1900, but neighbors still gathered for annual homecomings for decades.
Why it matters
It illustrates how frontier communities pooled their resources — church, school, lodge, and store under one roof — before growth allowed each institution its own home.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Scyene Meeting Place
Dallas, TX
Settlers in 1840s Dallas County first gathered under a tree at this spot, and by the 1850s a succession of two-story frame buildings hosted a Masonic lodge, church services, elections, and one of the county's earliest public schools. Among its pupils was the young Myra Maybelle Shirley, later infamous as the outlaw Belle Starr. When the Texas & Pacific Railroad bypassed Scyene in 1872 the town dwindled, yet the community hall kept hosting fraternal groups and classes until 1927.
Rylie Cemetery
Dallas, TX
In 1878 John Armstrong Rylie gave this land in southeast Dallas County for a settlers' school, and it began serving as a cemetery a decade later with a burial in 1889. Over the years more than 400 people were laid to rest here, among them the earliest families of the Rylie Prairie community and their descendants, including at least one Civil War veteran. A local association formed in 1962 to care for the grounds, keeping the pioneers' memory tended.
Miller Log Cabin
Dallas, TX
Hewn from cedar logs in 1847 and caulked with clay, this cabin was the first Texas home of settler William B. Miller, who later built the antebellum mansion Millermore. In its single room, a dozen local girls and their teacher gathered for one of the earliest schools in the Dallas area, boarding under the same roof. Moved to its present site in 1964, it survives as a rare glimpse of pioneer Dallas.
Lisbon Cemetery
Dallas, TX
In 1870, two landowners gave five acres for a church and burial ground at Lisbon, then a small pioneer town south of Dallas. A combined church and school rose the next year, and after the school closed and the churches moved away, the site endured purely as a cemetery. Descendants of the founding families organized to preserve it in 1948.