Sabine Methodist Church
Lindale, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1894 by the Rev. W. L. Pate, this congregation was named for its proximity to the Sabine River. Land for the church, school, and cemetery was donated by Joe Crone. The fellowship was served first by circuit preachers, but in 1922 began sharing a minister with the Lindale Methodist Church. In 1969, the Sabine and Lindale congregations merged. Throughout its history, Sabine Methodist Church has placed an emphasis on Christian education and has provided fellowship for members who often live miles apart in the surrounding rural area.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1894 by the Rev. W. L. Pate and named for the nearby Sabine River, this Methodist congregation built on land donated by Joe Crone for a church, school, and cemetery. Served first by circuit-riding preachers, it began sharing a minister with the Lindale church in 1922 and merged with it in 1969. Throughout, it emphasized Christian education and fellowship for a scattered rural membership.
Why it matters
The church's history illustrates how rural congregations, bound by faith and schooling, held together dispersed farming communities in turn-of-the-century East Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · W. L. Pate
- · Joe Crone
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Damascus Baptist Church
Lindale, TX
Twelve charter members organized this congregation in 1890, worshiping in the nearby Nebo community schoolhouse until a revival in 1895 swelled their ranks and spurred plans for a permanent church. Amy Wells donated three acres for the sanctuary and cemetery, and the first church building was finished in 1896 — she is said to have named it Damascus after the biblical account of the Apostle Paul's conversion. Baptisms in a nearby creek gave way to an indoor baptistry only in 1956, as the church steadily added space for its educational and fellowship programs.
Duck Creek Soil Erosion Project
Lindale, TX
In the depths of the Dust Bowl era, the United States awoke to soil erosion as a national emergency, and in 1929 one of the country's first ten erosion-control research stations was established near here. By 1934 the surrounding Duck Creek watershed became a working demonstration where landowners across 25,000 acres adopted planned conservation—terraces, dams, tree and grass plantings—much of it built by a nearby Civilian Conservation Corps camp. The project drew visitors from across the nation and trained a generation of agronomists, foresters, and engineers who carried its methods to other states.
Smith Chapel United Methodist Church
Mineola, TX
About 1885 members of the Hoard community organized what began as Davis Chapel, meeting in the Democrat Schoolhouse and a brush arbor before the congregation took the name Smith Chapel. In 1915 B.B. Hart sold land for a new church, with 52 members pledging labor and money and sawmill owner W.H. Smith supplying much of the material. A 1957 merger with nearby Crow Methodist Church helped finance the present sanctuary, keeping the congregation at the center of rural Wood County life.
Rosenwald Schools in Wood County
Hawkins, TX
In the 1920s, Black children across the rural South studied in dilapidated schoolhouses until Sears president Julius Rosenwald, working with educator Booker T. Washington, seeded a fund to build better ones. Communities matched the grants with their own money and labor; by the time the program ended in 1932, more than 5,300 Rosenwald schools stood in fifteen states, including eight in Wood County. Local families gave money and sweat to raise schools like Hawkins, Muddy Creek, and Fouke.