Site of Tenth Street Methodist Church
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Austin Methodists organized in 1840 and began in 1847 worshiping at Congress and 4th Street. This site was purchased in 1853 and a building was begun under the Rev. John W. Phillips (1821-1891). In 1883, the Rev. A. E. Goodwyn (1818-1902) led in the construction of a larger sanctuary. The congregation was known as “Central Church” and “Tenth Street Church”. In 1909 it officially changed to “First Methodist Church. Legislators and other government officials worshiped here. The congregation mpved in 1923 to a new building at Lavaca and 12th Street. (1979)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Austin's Methodists organized in 1840, in the earliest days of the Republic's new capital, and by 1847 were worshiping near Congress and 4th Street. They bought this site in 1853 and built here under the Rev. John W. Phillips, replacing it with a larger sanctuary in 1883 under the Rev. A. E. Goodwyn. Known over the years as Central Church and Tenth Street Church — and drawing legislators and other officials to its pews — the congregation became First Methodist in 1909 and moved to Lavaca and 12th Street in 1923.
Why it matters
A downtown congregation that counted lawmakers among its worshipers, this church knit together the religious and governmental life of Texas's frontier-era capital.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When Austin's Methodists organized in 1840, the city itself was brand new. Austin had been chosen as the capital of the Republic of Texas only the year before, in 1839, and it was still a raw settlement on the frontier's edge, laid out in the hills above the Colorado River. To gather a congregation there in 1840 was to build faith and city almost simultaneously.
Methodism was uniquely suited to that frontier moment. Its circuit-riding preachers and readiness to organize small congregations wherever people settled made it one of the fastest-growing faiths on the American frontier, and Texas was no exception. A capital full of officials, tradespeople, and newcomers was fertile ground.
The marker's span — from the Republic's early years through Reconstruction and beyond — traces Austin's own coming of age. A congregation that first worshiped near Congress Avenue in 1847 would watch the town around it grow from a frontier capital into the settled seat of state government it is today.
People & events
The congregation's path is marked by its buildings and the ministers who raised them. After organizing in 1840 and worshiping near Congress and 4th Street from 1847, the Methodists bought this site in 1853 and began building under the Rev. John W. Phillips, who lived from 1821 to 1891. Three decades later, in 1883, the Rev. A. E. Goodwyn — born in 1818 and living until 1902 — led the construction of a larger sanctuary to match a growing city.
The congregation answered to more than one name over the years, known as "Central Church" and "Tenth Street Church" before it officially became "First Methodist Church" in 1909. The shifting names track a church steadily enlarging its place in the life of the capital.
What set this congregation apart was its pews. The marker records that legislators and other government officials worshiped here — a natural consequence of a Methodist church sitting close to the seat of state power. In 1923 the growing congregation moved on to a new building at Lavaca and 12th Street, a few blocks north, closer still to the halls of government.
Its place in the American story
This is a "Site of" marker, and that itself tells a national story: in a living, changing capital, even a prominent downtown church may leave behind only the ground it once stood on. The congregation outgrew this block and moved on, and the marker preserves what the buildings could not.
The church's role knitting together religious and governmental life reflects a broader truth about American state capitals. Where lawmakers gather, churches near the statehouse become meeting grounds where public figures worship among ordinary citizens, and civic and spiritual life quietly overlap. A congregation that counted legislators in its pews helped set the tone of the young capital's public life.
The timeline also mirrors the maturing of Austin itself. The 1883 rebuilding came in the same decade that Texas raised its grand new Capitol nearby, a period when the frontier town was remaking itself in stone and brick as a permanent seat of government. This congregation grew in step with the city, from Republic-era beginnings to an established downtown institution.
If you visit
Come knowing there is no church here to tour — this is a site marker, so let your imagination do the rebuilding. Standing on the spot and reading the dates, you can picture the 1853 building, then the larger 1883 sanctuary, and the lawmakers filing in on a Sunday morning within walking distance of their work.
The real pleasure is placing it in the fabric of downtown Austin. The congregation's later home lay a few blocks north, closer to the Capitol, so a short walk lets you trace the church's migration toward the center of government it had long served.
Fit this into a walking tour of the old capital core, where markers, historic blocks, and the statehouse tell a connected story. It is a stop that rewards the curious pedestrian — a quiet reminder that a great city is layered with the outlines of things that no longer stand, if you know where to look.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John W. Phillips
- · A. E. Goodwyn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
General Land Office of the State of Texas
Austin, TX
The General Land Office served the State of Texas from 1856 to 1918, administering the vast public domain from which the state granted land to settlers, veterans, and railroads. Among its clerks was young William Sydney Porter—the future short-story writer O. Henry—who worked here from 1887 to 1891. The state later dedicated the building to heritage organizations honoring the Republic and the Confederacy.
Site of Second Travis County Courthouse and Walton Building
Austin, TX
Built in 1875, the second Travis County Courthouse was a massive three-story Victorian limestone building whose fortress-like jail once held the writer William Sidney Porter, later famous as O. Henry, when he returned to Austin in 1897 to face embezzlement charges. The county traded away its long lease in 1931, the courthouse was demolished, and state offices moved in under the name Walton Building. That structure was itself razed in 1964.
Site of Temporary Texas State Capitol of 1880's
Austin, TX
After fire destroyed the previous statehouse in 1881, Texas built this three-story brick Temporary Capitol in 1882–1883, the third capitol to stand in Austin. During its five busy years it saw legislation to fund education and to halt the fence-cutting that had erupted into a range war, hosted the first classes of the University of Texas, and even witnessed cattle baron Charles Goodnight wheel in $100,000 in cash to force a land settlement. After the grand new Capitol opened, the building served as a high school and offices until it, too, burned in 1899.
Henry Smith
Austin, TX
Henry Smith arrived in Texas in 1827 and quickly became a political leader in the Brazoria area as tensions with Santa Anna's centralist government mounted. In late 1835 he authored the plan for a provisional government and was elected the first provisional governor of Texas, serving through the eve of the revolution. He later held office in the Republic before joining the California Gold Rush, where he died in 1851 and was buried in an unmarked grave.