Shepherd Methodist Church
Shepherd, San Jacinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1882 in town founded by railroad backers and named for landowner-banker B. A. Shepherd. site for church was given by Paul Bremond, rail magnate. Greek revival building (first church erected in Shepherd) was shared in early years with other denominations. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Shepherd Methodist Church was organized in 1882 in a town founded by railroad backers and named for the landowner-banker B. A. Shepherd. The rail magnate Paul Bremond donated the site, and the Greek Revival building—the first church in Shepherd—was shared in its early years with other denominations. The congregation's story is bound up with the railroad boom that created the town itself.
Why it matters
The church shows how the arrival of the railroad conjured whole communities into being across East Texas, with houses of worship following close behind the tracks.
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Related people
- · B. A. Shepherd
- · Paul Bremond
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Shepherd grew from riverboat roots along the Trinity, where Old Drew's Landing shipped out cotton and tobacco for a scattering of pioneer settlements. When the Houston East & West Texas Railroad pushed through in the late 1870s, investor Benjamin A. Shepherd platted a townsite in 1875 and gave it his name, and a post office, physician, hotel, and church soon followed. Once a hub of the East Texas lumber industry, it settled into life as a steady market town of the piney woods.
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