DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll let the words do the work. Way back in 1835 — when Texas was still under Mexican rule and Protestant worship was flat-out outlawed — a lay preacher by the name of James Gilleland gathered up a handful of souls and formed the nucleus of what would become the Bastrop Methodist Church. Now, think about what that took.
Very few Texans at the time dared to defy those laws, and yet there was Gilleland, quietly building something meant to last. He couldn't have known just how long it would last. For sixteen years that congregation existed without a building to call its own, and then in 1851, they put one up — one block northwest of where you're standing right now.
The land was a farm lot, and it cost them two hundred and fifty dollars. That was real money, and they paid it. The years rolled on the way years do in Texas — slow and then all at once.
The present structure was initiated in 1924, and then renovated again in 1953. But here's the part that'll stop you cold if you let it. When they built the new, they didn't throw away the old.
That 1851 church — the one those defiant souls scraped together — its chancel altar rail, its pews, its memorial windows, they're all still right here, folded into the present sanctuary. Nearly two centuries of Sundays, all sitting in the same room. James Gilleland started something in 1835 that the congregation never once let die.
The old and the new, blended together — that's not renovation. That's memory with walls around it.
What the marker says
The nucleus of the present church was formed in 1835 by lay preacher James Gilleland at a time when very few Texans dared to defy Mexican laws outlawing Protestant worship. The first building for this church was erected 1851, one block northwest of here. Cost of land (farm lot) was $250. The present structure was initiated in 1924, renovated in 1953. Sanctuary now contains chancel altar rail, pews, and memorial windows from the 1851 church, thus the old and new are blended here, making this building an historic landmark. (1968)