Search Markers

Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth Methodism began in 1853 with a circuit-riding preacher on horseback carrying the gospel to homes across Tarrant County. As membership swelled, the congregation built and outgrew a succession of churches, and on the very day of the 1929 stock-market crash it broke ground on a soaring Gothic Revival edifice inspired by Notre-Dame in Paris. Members literally locked the old doors and walked together to the new sanctuary in 1930, where a long tradition of homeless outreach and broadcast ministry later took root.

New Braunfels, TX

As Methodism spread across south Texas in the 1850s, circuit rider Rev. Henry P. Young organized a New Braunfels congregation in 1853 within a circuit of German-speaking churches. Rev. J.W. Devilbiss, based in the town, trained ministers and gathered German-speaking converts, and a church building went up in the Comaltown area in 1858. Over the following century the congregation shifted from German to bilingual to English, grew past a thousand members, and in 2005 sponsored a daughter church in nearby Gruene.

Madisonville, TX

This congregation traces its roots to 1842, when circuit-riding preacher Henderson Palmer served the area before Madison County even organized. Ministers from surrounding Methodist districts tended the flock until it became a separate charge in 1856. Members built a one-room church in 1892, replaced it with a larger structure in 1904, and raised the present sanctuary in 1951, adopting the name First United Methodist Church in 1968.

Weslaco, TX

In early 1921 Methodists around the new Valley town of Weslaco organized their own congregation, and by that November had raised a wooden church, replacing it with a red brick building in 1925 and the present sanctuary in the 1950s. Beyond worship, the congregation helped found Knapp Memorial Methodist Hospital and the retirement community now known as John Knox Village. Its outreach and aid to neighboring Spanish-language congregations knit the young community together.

Chandler, TX

This congregation traces its roots to the 1870s, when Methodists gathered at Stillwater along the Upper Athens–Tyler stagecoach road and A. H. Chandler donated land for a church. Chartered through the efforts of local families, it gained its first appointed pastor in 1889 and moved through a succession of buildings as it grew. The Colonial-style church standing today was built in 1953 and later renamed First United Methodist Church of Chandler.

Tom Bean, TX

This Methodist congregation grew out of open-air brush arbor meetings at a rural campground in the mid-1880s, then followed its people into the new railroad town of Tom Bean. Fire, a tornado, and shared quarters with the Presbyterians all shaped its story, and a later sanctuary even preserved the heritage of a chapel from the nearby Perrin Air Force Base. It is a congregation whose home moved and rebuilt again and again as the community around it changed.

Kaufman, TX

Organized in 1845 as a Methodist Episcopal congregation in the town then called Kingsborough—soon renamed Kaufman—this church took root just as Texas joined the Union. From a first building in 1857 to a white-frame steepled sanctuary in 1876 and a substantial brick church in 1909, its successive buildings chart the growth of a North Texas county seat. Each stage was led by a named circuit-era pastor.

San Marcos, TX

Hays County's first church was organized on August 5, 1847, when circuit rider A. B. F. Kerr gathered nine charter members in the home of John D. Pitts. By 1849 the growing congregation met in a log house that served at once as church, courthouse, and school, braving wild animals and the dangers of the frontier to worship. A first building rose on this site in 1855, and the present Gothic Revival sanctuary was completed in 1893.

Alvord, TX

Organized in 1884 as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, this Alvord congregation raised its first building that March under Rev. F.W. Morton and hung a 600-pound bell cast by the historic C.S. Bell Company of Ohio. A women's society formed in 1890 and remains active, while an 1884 Sunday school, a 1922 consolidation with the Foster church, and mid-century additions carried the congregation forward. The 1961 sanctuary even reused wood from the original 1884 building.

Mont Belvieu, TX

After Amos and Ann Barber settled here in 1849, the area became known as Barbers Hill, and early preaching took place in their home before Captain Robert S. Dingham began a Sunday School. In 1877 the congregation organized as Barbers Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Barbers gave four acres for a church and school. A cemetery opened when a family needed a burial site during construction, and the sanctuary grew through additions in 1932, 1945, and 1957.

Center, TX

Among the oldest cemeteries in Shelby County, this Methodist burying ground opened with the grave of a small child in 1861, as the Civil War was just beginning. Most of those laid to rest here were buried before 1900, including five Civil War veterans, thirteen Masons, a minister, a doctor, and R. L. Parker, remembered as the father of Center. Antique iron fencing and family plots still mark the ground, now softened with blooming plants and a flagstone walk.

Albany, TX

Organized in 1873 at the ranch home of J. C. Lynch, this is the oldest congregation in the Northwest Texas Conference and the first church of any denomination in Shackelford County. Circuit-riding preacher Levi Collins came from Weatherford to gather the frontier Methodists. Over the decades the congregation weathered an 1888 tornado and rebuilt repeatedly, culminating in its present sanctuary.

Anson, TX

This West Texas congregation was gathered in 1882 by a Methodist circuit rider, one of the saddle-worn preachers who carried the faith across the frontier. In 1908 a local builder raised the Romanesque Revival sanctuary that still anchors the town, its bell tower later trimmed down against the prairie winds. For more than a century the church has grown right alongside Anson itself.

Aransas Pass, TX

As boosters worked to dredge a ship channel and raise a port at Aransas Harbor, a handful of residents gathered in a pavilion in 1891 to organize the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Early ministers often lived in Rockport and rode over twice a month to preach, and the congregation shared its first 1892 sanctuary with the local Christian church. The church weathered decades of storms, and after Hurricane Celia struck in 1970 its buildings served as an emergency hospital and communications center for the battered town.

Arlington, TX

As the Texas and Pacific Railroad pushed across North Texas in the 1870s, new congregations sprang up in the towns it created, often meeting wherever they could—here, reportedly in a lumber yard—before raising permanent buildings. This Methodist fellowship grew alongside Arlington itself, changing its name across the decades. Over the years its members lent their names to numerous local schools.

Austin, TX

In 1840, only a year after Austin was laid out as capital of the young Republic of Texas, a Methodist circuit rider named John Haynie gathered fourteen members into a fellowship that first worshiped in temporary quarters — including the Republic's own Capitol building. The congregation built a wooden church on Congress Avenue in 1847, later a brick edifice at Brazos and 10th, and finally the Neo-Classical structure on the present property purchased in 1921. In 1853 doctors meeting in its original building organized the Texas Medical Association.

Bartlett, TX

Founded as the Indian Creek Church sometime between 1870 and 1875, this Methodist congregation moved into Bartlett about 1885 and worshipped in a store, schoolhouse, and borrowed Baptist church before building its own homes. The present sanctuary, begun in 1896 and enlarged in 1912, was dedicated in 1921 after a gift from Mrs. S. T. Morrison retired its debt; the dedication was led by former pastor H. A. Boaz, later a bishop and president of Southern Methodist University. Membership grew from thirteen to a peak of 310 in the late 1950s.

Beaumont, TX

Methodism reached Beaumont in 1839 with missionary Samuel A. Williams, followed by circuit riders who worked the bayou country's "Alligator Circuit," preaching in brush arbors, homes, and a frame schoolhouse. Lay preacher John Fletcher Pipkin held the community together through the lean years, performing marriages and funerals for all faiths between the circuit riders' rare visits. After an 1865 hurricane and hard Reconstruction times, Methodists and Baptists pooled resources in 1877 before the congregation raised a succession of ever-grander churches.

Belton, TX

Founded in 1850, the same year Bell County was created, this Methodist congregation began on a frontier circuit before settling into a home of its own. By the 1880s the flock had outgrown its first building, and in 1884–86 members raised this larger Gothic-detailed sanctuary from locally made brick set on a native stone foundation. The original steeple came down in a 1925 remodeling.

Bishop, TX

Methodists in the newly platted South Texas town of Bishop gathered in the town hall in November 1911 to organize a church, with a visiting pastor from nearby Calallen presiding over a small band of charter members. Town founder F. Z. Bishop offered lots to every denomination, but the Methodists traded theirs for ground nearer the business district and broke ground in 1912, clearing their debt within nine years despite drought and hurricane. A larger sanctuary seating more than 400 followed in the 1950s as the congregation grew past 500 members.

Bonham, TX

Founded in 1844 in the Republic of Texas by circuit rider James H. Graham, this Methodist congregation first met in a shared log cabin alongside Baptists and Presbyterians, its charter members including Bonham's founder Bailey English. Over the decades it built and rebuilt through fire and growth. Its Women's Missionary Society, organized in 1887, sent lifelong member Lelia Roberts and her sister Martha to run a mission school in Mexico for 44 years.

Bridgeport, TX

When the Rock Island rail line reached the Bridgeport area in 1893, a Methodist congregation organized the very same year, first gathering under brush arbors and in the Masonic Lodge before circuit rider Ben W. Bounds preached its first sermon that June. A donation of land soon gave the church a home on "Methodist Hill," a building later lost to fire and rebuilt. As Bridgeport shifted from coal-mining town to ranch-and-dairy trade center and finally lake resort, the congregation stayed woven into community life.

Buna, TX

Five Buna citizens gathered in January 1904 to form a Methodist congregation, first worshiping in the town schoolhouse. In 1914 they began a white frame church on donated land, completing the two-story building in 1922 alongside a community hall shared with the local Masonic lodge. Over the following century the church added a parsonage and new facilities, founded women's and youth societies, and supported outreach including work with the Hispanic community of nearby Bessmay in the 1940s.

Caldwell, TX

Organized in 1840, this Methodist congregation is among the oldest in Texas, once counted as one of twelve appointments on the Nashville Circuit during the days of the Republic. In 1841 the Republic granted the church a wooded grove as a building site, and after Caldwell became its own circuit in 1852 the first sanctuary rose in 1854. By 1890 the growing congregation had built anew and hosted the Texas Methodist Conference; the present building was raised in 1927 on that historic 1841 ground.

Cameron, TX

This congregation grew out of the first wave of Methodist missionary work in Texas, tracing its roots to an 1841 camp meeting in Milam County—just four years after the earliest Methodist preachers reached the young republic. For decades a circuit rider served Cameron until the church earned a full-time pastor in 1885, raising a succession of buildings that culminated in the sanctuary first used in 1923.

Canton, TX

Methodist worship reached Canton in 1852, soon after the town became Van Zandt County's seat, when families hosted services in homes and brush arbors as a mission of the Athens church. Circuit-riding preachers and, by 1856, a full-time pastor tended the scattered flock through the lean years after the Civil War. In 1888 the congregation built its first sanctuary with funds the Ladies Aid Society raised by selling chicken dinners.

Carthage, TX

In 1855, as East Texas was filling with settlers, a handful of Methodists in the young town of Carthage began meeting in the local Masonic Hall. They bought this property in 1859 and raised a frame church whose completion was interrupted by the Civil War, sharing the building for a time with local Baptists. Over the following century the congregation rebuilt in frame and then brick, and in 1959 it was established enough to help found a daughter church.

Cedar Hill, TX

Organized in 1854, this Cedar Hill congregation lost its first church to a tornado just two years later, then worshiped in a frame building before raising the present structure in 1900. With its off-center entry tower and Gothic detailing, the church is a fine example of the country houses of worship that once dotted the Texas countryside. The bell installed in 1900 still calls the faithful to services.

Centerville, TX

Before Centerville had a formal congregation, traveling circuit riders like Henry Cassady and George Tittle carried Methodism to this Texas frontier, and in 1850 the church organized in earnest. Worshippers met in a schoolhouse until their first sanctuary rose in 1871, and a grander building with a bell tower replaced it in 1921. The congregation felt the reach of World War II directly when its pastor became an army chaplain and two members were killed in action.

Cisco, TX

When Methodist circuit rider Lamb Trimble organized this congregation at Red Gap in 1880, West Texas was still frontier country served by preachers who rode from settlement to settlement. The church followed the new town of Cisco when it was founded a year later, worshiping in a schoolhouse until a railroad company donated land for its first sanctuary in 1883. A devastating 1893 tornado that killed 23 people leveled the buildings, but members rebuilt—later riding the Eastland County oil boom of the 1920s to a grand new edifice dedicated in 1920.

Clarendon, TX

Methodist minister Lewis H. Carhart founded Clarendon in 1878 as a sober religious and educational colony on the Panhandle plains—cowboys mockingly dubbed the saloonless town "Saint's Roost." When the railroad arrived in 1887 the town moved to its present site, where circuit riders and then the Rev. Isaac L. Mills organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1888. As Clarendon College drew new members, the congregation built its large Classical Revival sanctuary in 1910.

Columbus, TX

One of the earliest Protestant congregations in Texas, this Methodist church traces its roots to Stephen F. Austin's original colony and built its first sanctuary near the Colorado River in 1848 on a lot sold for a single dollar. It moved and rebuilt as Columbus grew, raising a new church south of the railroad in 1873 and its present site's building in 1897. Its long list of early trustees reads like a roster of the town's founding families.

Comanche, TX

This Methodist congregation grew out of the frontier settlement of Cora, the first seat of Comanche County, where it was organized in 1858 and then followed the government to the new town of Comanche a year later. In the rough-hewn early days it drew colorful circuit-riding pastors, none more so than the Rev. Hugh M. Childress, the gun-toting "Bear Hunter Preacher." As membership grew, the church built new facilities in 1879 and absorbed smaller country congregations from White Point, Indian Creek, and Proctor.

Crawford, TX

Along the Central Texas prairie of McLennan County, faith took root the way it often did on the frontier: with families gathering in their homes for prayer and hymns as early as the 1840s. A congregation coalesced around Crawford's one-room schoolhouse in the late 1870s and was formally organized under the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. When the railroad reached the area in 1881, the whole town—church included—picked up and moved southwest to meet the tracks.

Cuero, TX

Methodist circuit riders were carrying worship to the Cuero Creek area as early as 1841, but a permanent congregation took root only after the town incorporated in 1873. From eight members in 1876 the church grew past a hundred within a decade, erecting its building in 1886. Later generations raised the structure over a new basement, added corner towers and a pipe organ, and adorned the sanctuary with memorial gifts.

Dallas, TX

Methodism reached Dallas as early as 1846, when circuit riders stopped at the small village, and the first organized group met in 1850 without a building of their own. The Civil War swallowed their building funds, but members persevered to dedicate the Lamar Street Methodist Church in 1868; after fire and mergers, the congregation borrowed space at Temple Emanuel before completing new homes in 1889 and 1926. Renamed across denominational changes, it became First United Methodist Church in 1968 and helped seed Methodist churches across North Texas.

De Kalb, TX

Methodism reached this corner of northeast Texas with circuit rider William Stevenson, who preached along the Red River in 1815 even though Protestant worship was still illegal in Spanish Texas. A mission began in DeKalb in 1836, the year the town was founded, when the area was still reckoned part of Miller County, Arkansas. The first church was a humble log building that doubled as a schoolhouse, and the congregation followed the town's growth — moving with the arrival of the Texas & Pacific Railroad and again in 1913.

Del Rio, TX

Six settlers organized a Methodist congregation in the border town of Del Rio in 1882, meeting first in members' homes before building a frame chapel on the edge of town. The church grew with the city—swelling as soldiers trained at nearby Camp Michie during World War I and again with the opening of Laughlin Air Force Base—and today carries on missions at home and abroad.

Dickinson, TX

Methodists began meeting in Dickinson-area homes in 1876, and by 1885 they had built a frame structure that served as both church and school. The great Galveston storm of 1900 swept away their building, and the congregation rebuilt in 1901 using salvaged materials. Over the decades it was renamed to honor benefactors—Howell Memorial in 1944—before becoming First United Methodist Church of Dickinson in the sanctuary begun in 1975.

Duncanville, TX

When the railroad reached Duncanville in 1882, it brought settlers who first gathered in an interdenominational Union Sunday School before organizing a Methodist congregation in 1883 with fourteen charter members under the Rev. George W. Owens. Their first sanctuary rose on this site in 1889 and served for some four decades. The church became a full-time station in 1946 and grew alongside the postwar suburb around it.

Eastland, TX

Methodists were worshiping in Eastland County as early as 1865, and soon after the town of Eastland was platted in 1875 they gathered in a small log house under circuit rider Melville B. Johnson. In 1882 they built the beloved "Little White Church," which served until the Eastland County oil boom of the 1920s brought the growth—and the money—for a new sanctuary.

Elkhart, TX

Methodism reached this part of Anderson County in 1840, when settlers gathered to worship in one another's homes, and in 1878 a formal mission took shape under a circuit-riding minister who tended eight congregations at once. From a white frame sanctuary with a high steeple raised in the 1890s, the church added a Sunday school, a youth ministry, and a women's missionary society, rebuilding and expanding across the decades to a new sanctuary consecrated in 1974. Its long life traces the settlement and maturing of Elkhart itself.

Euless, TX

In the late 1860s, Methodist families from Tennessee settled this corner of Tarrant County and began meeting for worship, sharing a Grange hall with neighbors of other faiths. As pioneer Elisha Adam Euless gave his name to the growing community, the congregation built its first sanctuary and welcomed circuit-riding preachers who covered a wide rural territory. The church grew alongside the town, and when Fort Worth and Dallas sprawl reached Euless in the mid-twentieth century, both congregation and community expanded together.

Evant, TX

Organized in the mid-1870s in the Langford's Cove community, later renamed Evant, this Methodist congregation began with just seven charter members and, when its founding pastor returned to Mississippi, kept the faith alive through prayer meetings, brush-arbor gatherings, and camp meetings. New families arriving from as far as Rhode Island and Wales swelled its ranks, and the congregation shared a building with other denominations until it built its own in 1905. It reached its peak of 201 members in 1963 and continues today.

Falfurrias, TX

The Rev. C. W. Perkins organized this Methodist congregation in 1904 with just seven charter members, worshipping first in the railroad depot and the 1905 frame schoolhouse shared by every denomination. In 1906 the Methodists built their own church on land donated by town founder Edward C. Lasater. Battered by hurricanes in 1916 and 1919 and remodeled in 1935, the frame building gave way to the present church in 1950.

Ferris, TX

The Houston & Texas Central Railway laid out Ferris in 1874, and that same year circuit-riding ministers John S. Davis and George W. Owens began gathering Methodists in the new rail town. The railroad donated lots in 1885 for a first church, and as Ferris grew into a cotton-ginning town of shops, depot, and schools, the congregation moved through successive conferences and buildings, sharing space with Presbyterians in the 1920s. A modern sanctuary followed in 1964.

Florence, TX

In the 1850s Florence was a cluster of log cabins with a shared stone building that served as church and meeting house on the Texas frontier. Circuit-riding Methodist ministers, serving several communities at once, brought regular preaching, and Rev. John Carpenter became the congregation's first appointed pastor in 1858. The church grew across the decades through mission societies, youth groups, and successive new buildings.

Gainesville, TX

Formed in 1852, this North Texas congregation first shared a meeting place with other denominations and the Masonic Lodge before raising a frame church in 1878 on land donated by James M. Lindsay. The present red-brick, Gothic Revival sanctuary, built by contractor John Garrett, was begun in 1892 and dedicated in 1893, and is notable for its Art Nouveau stained glass. An education building was added in 1965.

Ganado, TX

Methodists were gathering for brush-arbor and early-morning services around Ganado well before this congregation formally organized in 1880. Its first log building doubled as a schoolhouse, circuit-riding preachers served it on horseback, and its early worshippers included both Anglo and African American members. Successive sanctuaries—frame in 1895, brick in 1928, and a new building in 1959—trace the community's growth over more than a century.

Georgetown, TX

Begun in 1849 as a frontier mission served by circuit-riding preachers, this Methodist congregation gained a resident pastor in 1879 and raised its first building on the young Southwestern University campus. The present limestone church, hand-cut on site in 1891–93 and laid out on the plan of a Greek cross, was overseen by physics professor Robert S. Hyer, and it later shaped the callings of two brothers who became Methodist bishops.

Giddings, TX

Founded in 1871 with twenty-four charter members, this was the first congregation organized in Giddings — predating even the platting of the town in 1872 — under its first pastor, the Rev. William C. Lewis. The members raised their first church building in 1879, and the congregation grew from a stop on a preaching circuit into a full station charge by 1938. The present sanctuary dates to 1957.

Gilmer, TX

Gilmer's early settlers found Baptists and Methodists sharing the county's log courthouse for services by 1849, and a Methodist circuit rider soon organized a Sunday school and congregation that was chartered around 1852. The church founded separate men's and women's academies in the mid-1850s, schools that ran until they closed in 1862 amid the Civil War. Education remained central to the congregation as it grew, building ever-larger sanctuaries into the twentieth century.

Gladewater, TX

Gladewater grew slowly as a railroad town from the 1870s until, in 1922, fourteen people led by the Rev. H.T. Perritte gathered in a family home to organize a Methodist congregation and soon built a one-room sanctuary. Everything changed in the 1930s, when the East Texas oil boom flooded the town with new residents and swelled the church alongside it. Its members went on to form the men's and women's groups that carried the congregation's many programs forward.

Goliad, TX

Organized in the 1840s when Goliad was a young frontier town, this Methodist congregation first worshipped in a private home alongside Presbyterians before raising its own building around 1852. By 1859 the Goliad Circuit claimed the largest membership in its conference, and Black and white members worshipped together until 1872, when Goliad's first African American church was organized. An F4 tornado leveled the building in 1902, and it was rebuilt from the salvaged wood to a Gothic design by Danish-born architect Jules Leffland.

Happy, TX

A Methodist fellowship took shape in Happy in 1905 out of meetings held in settlers' homes, first worshipping in a schoolhouse and then a small frame church shared with Baptists, Christians, and Presbyterians. When the town relocated to the new Santa Fe rail line, the congregation literally hauled its church building by wagon to the fresh townsite in 1909. A circuit rider reorganized the little flock, which weathered a fire, remodels, and a new 1930s sanctuary to keep serving the Panhandle community.

Harlingen, TX

Thirty-one charter members founded Harlingen's Methodist congregation in 1910, at first sharing a frame sanctuary and served by a circuit-riding preacher who walked between towns. With land offered by city founder Lon C. Hill, they built Harlingen's first brick church by Easter 1911 and grew alongside the booming Rio Grande Valley city. The congregation weathered the 1933 Labor Day hurricane as a refuge, sent thirteen members to die in World War II, and helped plant a family of new churches, several serving the area's Spanish-speaking community.

Hebbronville, TX

The First United Methodist Church of Hebbronville was organized in December 1912 at Mrs. Ralph McCampbell's ranch, in the heart of South Texas cattle country. For fifteen years its members worshiped alongside the local Baptists in a schoolhouse, until the Edds family donated land for a shared church, completed in 1927. For a century it has served as a beacon for this ranching community.

Hempstead, TX

Methodism took hold in Hempstead around 1857, just after the town was platted, and an 1859 revival swelled the young congregation enough to acquire a building for worship. Formally deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1883, the congregation raised a succession of sanctuaries and served as one of the town's central gathering places. Through mergers and renamings it became today's First United Methodist Church of Hempstead.

Henderson, TX

Organized in 1842 by the Rev. Preston W. Hobbs during the days of the Republic of Texas, this congregation predates Rusk County itself. Its early ministers included the noted circuit rider William Craig and J. W. Fields, who helped found the Fowler Institute, a Methodist school, in 1850. Through more than a century it has anchored community service and leadership in Henderson.

Hewitt, TX

Methodist settlers around Hewitt first worshiped at Stanford Chapel, organized about 1875, and shared a union Sunday school with local Baptists before the Northwest Texas Conference formed a Hewitt circuit in 1900. The Hewitt Methodist Church took shape that year, absorbing members of Stanford Chapel when it disbanded in 1912 and even moving its tabernacle into town for summer revivals. The congregation became a full station in 1953 and marked its centennial in 2000.