Search Markers

Jefferson, TX

Founded in 1844 with the Rev. James Baldridge as its first pastor, this Methodist congregation replaced its log church in 1860 with what was called the most imposing brick church west of the Mississippi. Its bell, cast from 1,500 Mexican silver dollars, still rings in the present building, erected in 1884.

Alpine, TX

A circuit-riding preacher organized this Methodist congregation in the far West Texas town of Alpine in 1884, and by 1889 residents had raised an adobe church whose altar section still survives. In the sparsely settled Big Bend country, the building served not only Methodists but Baptists and Presbyterians alike, a shared house of worship on a thin frontier.

Fairfield, TX

Soon after Fairfield Female College opened in 1858, plans were made to cast a bell, with students donating money and jewelry to give it "tone" and townspeople adding hundreds of dollars in silver. Cast in England, the bell was shipped to Galveston and hauled inland by ox-wagon, so heavy it had to be mounted in a special frame on the college porch. When the college buildings were demolished in 1909, the bell passed to the Methodist Church, where it still rings today.

Allen, TX

On November 15, 1847, thirteen pioneers gathered in Joseph Russell's log cabin near present-day Allen to organize one of Collin County's earliest Methodist congregations, served at first by circuit-riding preachers on the far-flung Dallas circuit. As the railroad reshaped the area in the 1870s, the church followed its people, worshiping in schoolhouses and, thanks to neighborly Baptists, in borrowed pews before building its own house in 1902. Through fires, rebuildings, and a final 1966 sanctuary, the congregation endured—counting among its members Dr. Malcolm O. Perry, a surgeon who treated President Kennedy in 1963.

Alvin, TX

The circuit-riding minister Peter Nicholson founded Alvin's First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1881, its earliest services held in members' homes and the local railroad station. A first frame building went up in 1886 on lots donated by Jesse and Celia Hobbs; a brick church replaced it in 1926 — the year the women of the congregation gave a pipe organ — and a still larger sanctuary rose on this site in 1961. For more than a century the church has anchored community life through scouting, youth programs, and social ministries.

Azle, TX

The Rev. Will A. Stephens and fifteen charter members organized this Methodist congregation in 1895, buying a building from the United Brethren Church and securing a parsonage. The church called its first full-time minister in 1942, and membership more than doubled by 1946, prompting a new education building and a brick sanctuary. A 1968 denominational merger gave it the name First United Methodist Church.

Beeville, TX

In 1861, just three years after Bee County was organized, the Rev. Berry Merchant helped Beeville Methodists establish a congregation, and for years circuit-riding preachers ministered to them, often in the county's small wood-frame courthouse. The church built its first sanctuary in the early 1870s, relocated to this site in 1904, and grew steadily as Beeville became a Methodist district headquarters. Denominational mergers reshaped its name over the twentieth century.

Borger, TX

When A.P. "Ace" Borger bought 240 acres in 1926 to found a Panhandle oil-boom town, its population exploded past 50,000 within ninety days. A visiting Methodist elder resolved to plant a church, and Rev. Orion W. Carter held the first service in a local grocery store before formally organizing the congregation that July with fifteen charter members. From a small first building the church grew through successive sanctuaries as it kept pace with the raw, booming city around it.

Bronte, TX

This West Texas congregation began in the summer of 1890, when a handful of worshipers gathered under a brush arbor along East Kickapoo Creek to organize a church. They met in an old schoolhouse before raising their first sanctuary in 1907, replaced by a new building in 1951. Now First United Methodist Church, the congregation has kept a steady missionary focus across more than a century.

Brookshire, TX

This congregation traces its roots to Union Chapel Methodist Church, founded by the Rev. Churchill Fulshear in the vanished community of Pittsville in 1844. The church moved and was renamed Asbury Chapel, then in 1893—the year Brookshire was founded—sold its sanctuary and built anew at this site as Brookshire Methodist Church. Storms, a difficult World War I–era rebuilding, and steady growth followed before it became First United Methodist Church of Brookshire.

Bryan, TX

Methodism reached this area through circuit-riding preachers, one of whom held services in a hall above a saloon before the Rev. H.G. Horton organized the congregation in 1868. The Houston & Texas Central Railroad deeded the church its first building site, tying the young congregation to the rail line that created the town of Bryan. A brick sanctuary raised in 1902 burned in 1906 and was rebuilt, with a new sanctuary completed in 1951.

Burkburnett, TX

Methodists in the young oil town of Burkburnett first worshipped in a one-room building that doubled as school and social hall. Led by former schoolteacher "Mother Majors" and circuit rider Frank McGehee, they held their first service in a new frame sanctuary in 1908. The congregation boomed with the 1918 oil strike and again as Sheppard Air Force Base expanded after World War II, building a brick sanctuary in 1925.

Canyon, TX

Methodist leaders held Canyon's earliest religious service in 1889, and that October the Rev. B. F. Jackson organized the city's first church with a handful of founding families. Jackson preached to large crowds in Palo Duro Canyon in 1890 and conducted the community's first funeral and first wedding the next year. The congregation raised its original building under its first regular pastor in 1900, as the Panhandle town itself was just taking hold.

Corpus Christi, TX

Methodist worship first came to Corpus Christi in 1846, when Rev. John Haynie preached to a settlement swelling with federal troops gathering for the Mexican War, though a formal congregation was not organized until 1853. Built on land bought from town founder Col. Henry L. Kinney, the church's early shellcrete building was the first erected by any denomination in the city and served triple duty as a community center, schoolhouse, and emergency hospital during the yellow fever epidemics of 1854 and 1867. The congregation grew alongside the city, helping spawn several other area churches before moving to Shoreline Drive in 1955.

Dayton, TX

Methodist worship reached the settlement of West Liberty—later Dayton—as early as 1855, decades before the congregation gained a full-time pastor and its first sanctuary in 1906. Early services met in a schoolhouse, and over the following century the church raised a succession of ever-larger buildings to keep pace with a growing membership, adopting the United Methodist name after the denomination's 1968 merger. Its long arc of construction and community programs mirrors the town's own growth.

Denton, TX

Organized by Rev. William E. Bates in 1857—the very year Denton itself was founded—this Methodist congregation first met in the log courthouse before sharing a Masonic building that doubled as school and meeting hall. From a white frame church in 1873 the congregation grew to a red brick sanctuary in 1899 and, by 1925, a building seating 2,400. Its history tracks the growth of a North Texas county-seat town from raw frontier settlement to established community.

Diboll, TX

Diboll sprang up in the 1890s as an East Texas sawmill town, and this Methodist congregation formed almost as soon as the mill did, around 1897. Early worshippers gathered in a schoolhouse and in a shared two-story building alongside Baptists and fraternal lodges before securing their own site and raising a sanctuary in 1914. The land was formally deeded to the church in 1922 as the congregation grew.

Eldorado, TX

Organized in July 1901, this was the first congregation gathered in the brand-new West Texas town of Eldorado. Early worshippers met in brush arbors and the schoolhouse before raising a sanctuary in 1903 that they shared with other denominations, later selling their old building to the public schools. A 1944 fire could not close it; the church was rebuilt within a year.

Farmersville, TX

This Farmersville congregation grew from Methodist classes led in 1856 by the Rev. J. W. Chalk in a country schoolhouse, gathering strength through revivals and years of arbor meetings before building its first church in 1875. A grand ornate sanctuary designed by architect James Edward Flanders replaced it in 1902, only to burn in 1924; the present Greek Revival church followed in 1926. Over the decades the congregation served its town in wide-ranging ways, even lending its building as a blood-drive site and air-raid shelter during World War II.

Floydada, TX

Methodism reached Floyd County in the 1880s, when circuit-riding preachers served scattered settlers at Della Plain and held services in J.S. McLain's general store — years before Floydada or the county itself was formally organized. After the county's 1890 organization made Floydada the seat, a Methodist congregation formed, worshiping first in the schoolhouse, then in a 1902 church that was moved to this site in 1913 and replaced by brick in 1918. The congregation has served the community for more than a century.

Fredericksburg, TX

Founded in 1849 as a German-language mission under the Rev. Eduard Schneider, this is the oldest Methodist congregation in the Texas Hill Country, planted among the German immigrant families who had recently settled Fredericksburg. The roster of charter couples reads like a directory of that immigrant community. By the mid-1850s the congregation had raised a sturdy native-stone church that, through successive remodelings, still stands and serves.

Garland, TX

Eighteen charter members organized this Methodist congregation in 1855, worshipping in a log cabin schoolhouse on Duck Creek under circuit-riding preachers who rode from settlement to settlement. A sanctuary built in 1871 was swept away by an 1874 tornado. When surrounding communities merged to form the City of Garland in 1887, the church was already woven into the town's life, and it has served the growing city through many buildings since.

Goldthwaite, TX

Methodism reached this part of Central Texas in the mid-1850s by way of circuit-riding preachers—among them H. Childress, the "bear-hunting preacher" who traveled armed for protection. When the Santa Fe Railway founded the town of Goldthwaite in 1885, arriving residents formed a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and completed a wood-frame sanctuary within two years. Through denominational mergers the church became First Methodist in 1939 and First United Methodist in 1968.

Grand Saline, TX

Before Grand Saline had a Methodist congregation of its own, the faithful traveled three miles west to Creagleville for worship. As the town grew through industrial and business expansion tied to its famous salt deposits, the Rev. Samuel N. Allen organized a congregation in 1889, served at first by circuit-riding ministers. The church moved through a series of buildings as it grew alongside the town.

Groesbeck, TX

The Rev. Mordecai Yell led Groesbeck's first Methodist services in 1871, the year this congregation formed, gathering at first in a community building on North Waco Street. A sanctuary rose on Trinity Street in 1879, and by 1893 the church had grown large enough to call a full-time pastor, moving to this site a decade later. Through the years it backed missionary work at home and abroad while anchoring local community life.

Groveton, TX

Groveton sprang up as a sawmill town in 1882, and a Methodist congregation followed the very next year, first gathering in the schoolhouse before buying a church lot in 1887. The rough-and-tumble lumber town was thick with saloons and gaming resorts, and the church repeatedly rebuilt after fires—one blaze reportedly set by arsonists angered at Reverend Jesse Lee's temperance crusade against the town's liquor trade. A handsome 1914 church with stained glass rose at Church and Second streets, and a 1970 belltower still carries that building's bell. The congregation has served Groveton for well over a century.

Hallettsville, TX

Methodist circuit riders reached this area as early as 1842, and by 1851 eleven charter members had formed a congregation that worshipped in brush arbors, homes, a schoolhouse, courthouse, and the local Masonic Lodge Hall. The church met in the Lodge Hall until completing its first sanctuary in 1891, later adding a parsonage and educational building. Closely tied to sister churches in Shiner and Mossy Grove, it has counted many of Hallettsville's leading citizens among its members.

Holliday, TX

Methodist circuit-riding preachers were already serving this corner of Archer County by 1889, and formal church records for Holliday begin in 1892 under its first pastor, R.P. McElwreath. Ten acres deeded to the church became known as the Holliday Campground, and around 1900 members — led by the efforts of James Madison Taylor — raised the first frame church. That wooden building came down in the 1920s, replaced by a brick sanctuary in 1927.

Hubbard, TX

Hubbard's first church congregation organized in 1882 with seventeen charter members, meeting in a frame sanctuary built in 1891. In 1911 they replaced it with this imposing brick building by the Dallas firm Flanders and Flanders, whose strong horizontal lines and geometric detailing show the influence of the Prairie School. Twin towers and more than a hundred stained-glass windows make it a landmark of the Hill County town.

Hutchins, TX

Hutchins took shape in 1872 when the Houston & Texas Central Railroad reached the spot, and in 1887 the Rev. John M. Davis and eight charter members organized this Methodist congregation in a local farmhouse. A frame church rose on Main Street in 1891, replaced by a new building on Palestine Street, and after fire destroyed that structure in 1916 the congregation rebuilt within a year. The church has served the community for well over a century.

Livingston, TX

The Rev. Blackwell Dunnam gathered this Methodist congregation in 1848, just two years after Livingston became the seat of Polk County. Early services met in members' homes until a sanctuary rose at Church and East streets in 1859, a building that doubled as a community schoolhouse and welcomed several congregations. New structures followed in 1911 and again in 1948-49 as the church carried its founders' work forward.

Lockney, TX

This Lockney congregation dates to 1890, when Rev. R.M. Morris gathered about twenty-five Methodists to organize a new church on the Texas Panhandle frontier. Members worshiped in the local schoolhouse and under brush arbors until a frame sanctuary was finished in 1908, replaced by a larger brick building in 1920. A new facility followed in the 1950s as the congregation grew and took up community and missionary work.

Longview, TX

This congregation dates to 1845, when a one-room log building served the community as church, school, and town hall, tended by circuit-riding ministers until 1850. Following the paths of trade and travel, the congregation moved to Earpville on the stagecoach road in 1860 and then relocated its building to Longview in 1874 after the railroad arrived. It has served the area for more than a century and a half.

Lubbock, TX

This Methodist congregation dates to 1892, when circuit-riding minister R.M. Morris and twelve charter members organized a church in the fledgling town of Lubbock. Early services met in the schoolhouse and county courthouse before the arrival of the city's first resident Methodist pastor in 1900 and the building of a first sanctuary in 1904. As Lubbock grew into the hub of the South Plains, the church rebuilt and expanded to keep pace.

Mesquite, TX

Methodist worship began near Mesquite in 1857, before the town existed, when circuit rider W. K. Masten led services in a local schoolhouse. Formally organized by 1863 as the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the congregation received land from charter members John and Lucy Futrell in 1880 and raised a frame church that anchored the growing downtown. Denominational mergers reshaped its name over the decades, and it grew into a series of ever-larger sanctuaries.

Oglesby, TX

This congregation was organized in 1891 as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and counted 56 members in its first year under its first pastor. An early building was destroyed by a tornado in 1893, and its replacement gave way in 1912 to this late Victorian Queen Anne church with a central gable and twin bell towers. For generations the congregation funded missionaries abroad through an annual harvest festival.

Overton, TX

This congregation dates to 1873, when members of the nearby Jamestown church helped found a new fellowship in Overton, raising a small frame building from lumber hauled in by wagon. Successive sanctuaries followed in 1932 and 1969, the last preserving stained-glass windows from the earlier structure. For more than a century the church has served this Rusk County community.

Palestine, TX

Methodism took root in Palestine, Texas, through classes organized in 1840 and gathered strength after the town became the Anderson County seat in 1846, aided by organizer Louisiana Catherine "Aunt Bee" Small. The community's first church, Bascom Chapel, rose in 1850 and served as the town's sole house of worship for years before a congregational split around 1900 produced the First Methodist Church, which built here in 1910. Women's missionary work has been part of the church's life since its earliest decades.

Pampa, TX

In 1906 five charter members founded the First Methodist Church, the first congregation organized in the young Panhandle town of Pampa. From a one-room white church with a steeple built in 1908, the congregation grew, buying this site in 1924 and completing a new sanctuary in 1928. For more than a century it has anchored the community's religious and civic life.

Pittsburg, TX

Organized in 1857 by Rev. J.W. Harvey Hamill, this congregation counted among its charter members the family of Major W.H. Pitts, for whom Pittsburg was named. Worshipers moved from a log structure to a shared two-story frame building with the Masonic Lodge, then to a larger frame sanctuary in 1888–89, and finally to the brick prairie-style church built in 1904–05. By its 1957 centennial the membership had grown to 546.

Plano, TX

By oral tradition this congregation began about 1846–47, when thirteen Peters Colony settlers gathered in the home of Joseph and Elizabeth Russell to organize a Methodist church on the North Texas frontier. The worshippers followed the growing community—first to a Spring Creek schoolhouse, then into the new railroad town of Plano after 1874—and became a full station in 1888. Generations of church buildings and outreach programs trace the town's growth from prairie settlement to modern suburb.

Richland, TX

Founded in 1847 on what was then remote Texas frontier through the labors of the Rev. J. E. Ferguson and the Rev. J. G. Hardin, this Methodist congregation has worshipped continuously ever since. In 1966 the American Association of Methodist Historical Societies recognized Richland as the oldest continuing congregation in the Central Texas Annual Conference. Its long survival testifies to the endurance of frontier faith communities.

Robert Lee, TX

Organized in 1891 as settlers were still putting down roots in the ranch country of west-central Texas, this Methodist congregation grew through three successive sanctuaries. The frame buildings of 1896 and 1907 gave way in 1928 to the present Classical Revival structure, with its art-glass windows and triumphal-arch entry marking a young town's investment in permanence.

Rockport, TX

Methodists have worshipped in the small Aransas Bay port of Rockport since about 1870, and the Rev. H. G. Horton became their pastor in 1872. Their first frame church at Live Oak and Bay Streets did double duty, sheltering other congregations until they could build their own facilities. In 1914 the Methodists relocated to this site, where an emphasis on education kept the church at the center of community life.

Rocksprings, TX

This Rocksprings congregation grew from religious gatherings led by the Rev. D.O. McAllister in an 1893 schoolhouse, with early support ranging from landowners to local saloon keepers who gave buckets of silver dollars. Its first church rose about 1900 and served the whole community until the devastating 1927 storm destroyed the building and killed the minister and his wife. The congregation rebuilt within a year and went on to support missions as far away as Korea and Zaire.

San Benito, TX

Organized in January 1908, barely a year after San Benito was platted, this Methodist congregation began with a Brownsville pastor preaching once a month in a one-room schoolhouse. It moved through borrowed rooms and a Baptist sanctuary before building its own church here in 1910 and calling its first full-time pastor the next year. Rooted in mission work and interdenominational cooperation, the congregation's women prepared medical supplies and clothing for soldiers during both World Wars, and members expanded the site with a new sanctuary in 1931.

Shiner, TX

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of Shiner was organized on November 1, 1887, in the office of the town's first mayor, L. P. Amsler. Two years later rancher David Kokernot donated a building whose upper floor served a Masonic Lodge while Methodists worshiped below — a common frontier arrangement. Long served by circuit-riding preachers, the congregation gained its first full-time pastor in 1950 and by 1954 was named the outstanding rural church of its Methodist conference.

Silverton, TX

Organized as a Sunday school in 1891, the First Methodist Church of Silverton grew up with its Panhandle town. Its first pastor, the Rev. W.B. Ford, rode a circuit and preached here once a month, and early services filled a grocery store, a one-room schoolhouse, and the courthouse until the first sanctuary was finished in 1902. A replacement sanctuary, built in 1929 using some of the original materials, and later additions housed the growing congregation.

Smithville, TX

Organized in 1888 by the Rev. H. M. Haynie and eight charter members, Smithville's Methodist congregation met in the local school until a frame sanctuary opened in 1893. A brick church followed in 1912–13 and was rebuilt and enlarged after a 1922 fire. The building blends Gothic Revival and Romanesque influences, with art glass windows, a zig-zag wall, and a truncated tower.

Stephenville, TX

Organized in 1855 with ten charter members, this Methodist congregation grew up alongside the frontier town of Stephenville, first meeting in the Masonic lodge on the town square. An 1890s sanctuary gave way in 1917 to the present Beaux Arts building, with its giant Corinthian columns and art-glass windows.

Texas City, TX

This congregation grew from informal Methodist gatherings among families newly arrived to Texas City in 1894, becoming the town's first organized church two years later. When the 1900 Galveston hurricane leveled much of the area, the congregation rebuilt; a split between "northern" and "southern" Methodist factions in 1907 spawned a rival church that eventually outgrew its parent, before the two reunited in 1938 to form First Methodist.

Trenton, TX

In 1887 worshippers gathered at Trenton's Union Church to organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with the Rev. W. J. Bludworth as first pastor. By the time the first sanctuary was built in 1896, the congregation numbered about 200 and had formed groups for youth, women, and men. As the North Texas farming town grew, so did the church, which has served the community for well over a century.

Tulia, TX

In 1891 a handful of Methodists organized this congregation on the raw Panhandle plains, worshipping in the town's one-room schoolhouse alongside Baptists and Presbyterians. With community labor and lumber hauled all the way from Amarillo, they raised Tulia's first church building in 1897, which neighboring congregations also used until they built their own. The church grew with the town, adding a sanctuary in 1929 and taking its United Methodist name after a 1968 merger.

Turkey, TX

On a September day in 1891, a circuit-era minister and seven charter members gathered in a Hall County home to organize a Methodist congregation on the Texas Panhandle plains. For years they worshiped in homes and a community schoolhouse before raising a frame sanctuary in 1907, only to see a 1928 tornado level it — after which they simply built a basement and kept meeting until an above-ground church was finished in 1948. The congregation's endurance through storm and hardship mirrors the grit of the ranching country around Turkey.

Valley Mills, TX

Methodism reached this corner of Bosque County in the 1840s, when circuit-riding preachers held camp meetings on a nearby farm. After the railroad pulled Valley Mills south of the river in 1889, the congregation built its first church, then voted to move downtown, completing this brick sanctuary by 1916. Its temple-front entries with Ionic columns, art-glass windows, and pressed-metal roof mark it as a proud small-town landmark.

Wellington, TX

Organized in 1890 by the Rev. J. H. Linderman and a handful of charter members, this Wellington congregation took root in a raw Panhandle county where the first worship services shared a small wooden building that also served as the first courthouse. The faithful met in a schoolhouse through the 1890s until their first sanctuary was finished in 1899, replaced by a larger one in 1913 as the congregation grew. By 1984 it stood as the only Methodist church in the county.

Whitewright, TX

This Methodist congregation grew from Sears Chapel, a shared 'Union Church' begun in the late 1850s at the home of early settlers Christopher and Mary Sears. After the village of Whitewright took shape in 1878, the congregation formally organized in 1882 and soon built a sanctuary, a parsonage, and a Sunday School. A new 1895 sanctuary served worshippers for more than a century as the church became a lasting anchor of community life.

Winnsboro, TX

Organized in 1859 as Winnsboro's first religious body, this Methodist congregation fell apart during the upheaval of the Civil War before being revived in 1869 with just fifteen members. It moved from borrowed quarters into its own sanctuary in 1880, then rebuilt in brick in 1904 and again in 1963. Across more than a century it anchored the town's spiritual and civic life.

Winters, TX

In the young ranching town of Winters, on the West Texas rolling plains, a Methodist congregation organized in 1891 and worshipped for eight years in the shared local schoolhouse before raising its first frame church on this corner in 1899 under pioneer circuit rider John Wesley Bowden. A distinctive open-sided tabernacle followed in 1911, catching summer breezes and hosting revivals and town gatherings for decades. The marker's most memorable episode came in 1925, when parishioners literally laid $8,500.50 in cash on a barrelhead one Sunday to retire the new brick church's debt.

Yoakum, TX

Sent by the East Texas Conference in 1889, the Rev. Thomas S. Armstrong gathered a small band of Methodists to organize this Yoakum congregation, worshiping at first in a Knights of Pythias hall, an empty saloon, and borrowed sanctuaries. The church built its first home in 1893 and replaced it with a brick structure in 1917 before moving to its present site in 1973. Its Women's Missionary Society, founded in 1893, has carried on outreach for well over a century.