DUANE
Duane's take
The Texas Historical Commission marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice that carries it down the road. Now settle in, because this story starts not in Texas at all, but up in Missouri — and it ends with stained glass light pouring through a sanctuary that had absolutely no business still standing. Here's how it went.
In 1858, Dr. George T. Key packed up his family and pointed them south and west, all the way to Denton County, Texas, settling near what would eventually become the town of Aubrey.
They built log cabins out there on that raw land — more than one, as a matter of fact — and one of those cabins pulled double duty from the very start. By day it was a schoolhouse. Come Sunday, it was a church.
That building earned itself a name: the Key School House. And inside its log walls, one of the first Methodist churches ever established in all of Denton County took root and held on. They'd call it the Aubrey Methodist Church in time.
For years — years, mind you — that congregation met at the Key School and in each other's homes, gathered under the guidance of Reverend F. V. Evans.
No steeple, no stained glass, no grand entrance. Just faithful people showing up wherever there was room. Then 1885 rolls around, and a man named L.
N. Edwards makes an addition to the original town plat of Aubrey, and he does something that must have felt like a gift falling straight out of the sky: he offers a free lot to each church in town. The Aubrey Methodist Church accepted theirs — a corner lot, right at Plum and Maple Streets.
Now they had land. What they didn't have was money, because church funds were, as the record puts it, extremely scarce. But a pioneer citizen of the county named Ed F.
Bates stepped forward and donated the funds to build a proper church building. Construction on a wood-frame building was completed in 1886. From log cabin to a real, standing, wood-frame church on a corner lot — that is a journey worth remarking on.
But here's where the story takes a turn, and I want you to feel it coming the way people in Aubrey must have felt that April sky going wrong. On April 14, 1918, a devastating tornado swept through Aubrey and destroyed the church. Just like that.
Everything Ed Bates had funded, everything that congregation had built and prayed in and gathered around — gone. Now, a lesser community might have taken that as a sign and called it done. Aubrey did not.
By February of 1919 — less than a year later — a new building was standing on that corner. One story, brick veneer, built to last. And inside that new building, they hung something that this marker calls exquisite: pre-Raphael style stained glass windows depicting stories of the Christian faith, filling the sanctuary with vibrant colors.
After everything that congregation had been through, I'd say they'd earned every ray of that light. The story doesn't stop there either. In 1968, the church was renamed Aubrey First United Methodist Church when the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church combined — a new name for a congregation that had been growing and changing since 1858.
And in 1986, the church incorporated and built an adjacent fellowship hall right next door. From a log cabin near a frontier settlement, to a schoolhouse church, to a wood-frame building on a donated lot, through a cyclone that leveled it to nothing, and back up again in brick and colored glass — the Aubrey First United Methodist Church has been standing and serving this community for a long, long time. Some buildings earn their place on the map.
This one earned it twice.
What the marker says
IN 1858, DR. GEORGE T. KEY AND HIS FAMILY, ORIGINALLY FROM MISSOURI, MOVED TO DENTON COUNTY AND SETTLED NEAR THE PRESENT TOWN OF AUBREY. THERE THEY BUILT LOG CABINS, ONE OF WHICH WAS USED FOR A SCHOOL AND CHURCH. THE BUILDING, KNOWN AS THE KEY SCHOOL HOUSE, WAS THE HOME OF ONE OF THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCHES ESTABLISHED IN DENTON COUNTY, LATER RENAMED AUBREY METHODIST CHURCH. FOR YEARS, THE CONGREGATION OF THE AUBREY METHODIST CHURCH MET AT THE KEY SCHOOL AND IN MEMBERS’ HOMES UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF REVEREND F.V. EVANS. IN 1885, L.N. EDWARDS MADE AN ADDITION TO THE ORIGINAL TOWN PLAT OF AUBREY AND OFFERED A FREE LOT TO EACH CHURCH. THE AUBREY METHODIST CHURCH ACCEPTED THE LOTS ON THE CORNER OF PLUM AND MAPLE STREETS. ED F. BATES, A PIONEER CITIZEN OF THE COUNTY, DONATED FUNDS TO BUILD A CHURCH BUILDING AS CHURCH FUNDS WERE EXTREMELY SCARCE. CONSTRUCTION ON A WOOD-FRAME BUILDING WAS COMPLETED IN 1886. ON APRIL 14, 1918, A DEVASTATING TORNADO SWEPT THROUGH AUBREY AND DESTROYED THE CHURCH. A NEW, ONE-STORY BRICK VENEER BUILDING WAS COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY 1919. THE EXQUISITE PRE-RAPHAEL STYLE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS DEPICT STORIES OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND ALLOW VIBRANT COLORS TO FILL THE SANCTUARY. IN 1968, THE CHURCH WAS RENAMED AUBREY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH WHEN THE EVANGELICAL UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH AND THE METHODIST CHURCH COMBINED. THE CHURCH INCORPORATED AND BUILT AN ADJACENT FELLOWSHIP HALL IN 1986. FROM MEETING IN A LOG CABIN TO ENDURING A CYCLONE, THE AUBREY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OVERCAME MANY OBSTACLES AND CONTINUES TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY.