Prosper United Methodist Church
Prosper, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1899, trustees of Bethel Methodist Church bought a few acres of land near the settlement of Rock Hill to build a new church, Smith's Chapel. In 1902, the entire settlement relocated one mile north to the new town of Prosper to take advantage of the railroad. Smith's Chapel and its congregation voted to move their church and it was renamed Prosper Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1923, the church had outgrown its simple frame structure and, in August, laid the cornerstone for the present church across the street. Through efforts and sacrifices of its congregation, Prosper Methodist Church continues to be an active and spirit-filled mainstay of the Prosper community. (2012)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation traces its roots to 1899, when Methodist trustees near Rock Hill bought land for a new church, Smith's Chapel. When the whole settlement moved a mile north in 1902 to reach the railroad and the new town of Prosper, the congregation voted to move with it, renaming itself Prosper Methodist Episcopal Church. Outgrowing its frame building, the church laid the cornerstone of its present sanctuary in 1923.
Why it matters
The church's move mirrors a common Texas story of towns picking up and relocating to meet the railroad, with the congregation serving as an enduring anchor of community life.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Prosper
Prosper, TX
Prosper owes its very existence to a railroad's decision: when the St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas line bypassed the older settlements of Rock Hill and Richland, residents platted a new town along the tracks in 1902. As a shipping point for cotton and grain, Prosper rose and fell with commodity prices while three transplanted church congregations gave it continuity. Today it sits on the edge of the booming Dallas Metroplex yet keeps much of its early-century fabric.
Wilson Creek House
Celina, TX
W. W. Wilson, an employee of the Cotton Belt Railroad, moved to Plano in 1901, married Alice Bell, and in 1903 had this turn-of-the-century home built on Avenue K. Its fish-scale shingling and Victorian details sheltered the Wilsons and their three children for decades. After changing hands several times, the house was moved to its present site in 1976 and honored as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Crossroads Cemetery
Celina, TX
East of Celina, a Baptist congregation gathered in 1882 on a acre-and-a-half tract that brothers Abiel and Edmond Stelzer had held in common, and the burial ground beside it already held graves reaching back to 1875. When the railroad arrived, the congregation followed it into the new town and became First Baptist Church of Celina, but the cemetery stayed put and remains in use today. Its official 2006 designation preserves one of the quiet fixtures of Collin County's farming country.
Community of Little Elm
Little Elm, TX
Little Elm sits on land from the Peters Colony, an empresario grant the Republic of Texas awarded in 1841 to lure settlers to its northern frontier. Among the first were John and Delilah King, who came from North Carolina in 1844; their son "Kit" King helped organize the area's first mail service and became postmaster when the Little Elm post office opened in 1852. Formed from a cluster of small settlements, the town might have faded—but the creation of Lake Dallas in the 1920s and Lake Lewisville in the 1950s, plus nearby Dallas–Fort Worth, drove it to grow and incorporate in 1966.