Bay City Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Bay City Methodist Church. Now settle in, because this congregation's story starts long before there even was a Bay City to put a church in. We're going back to 1870, when the only way a Methodist was going to hear a sermon out along the Colorado River at Red Bluff was if a circuit-riding minister came to find them.

And find them they did. A church elder named Norman Savage, born in 1826 and gone by 1879, was there serving that small congregation through whatever the frontier threw at it. The first minister on record was Thomas W.

Rogers, riding his circuit and holding things together in a place that didn't yet have a town square, let alone a steeple. Fast forward to 1894, when the town of Bay City was finally surveyed, laid out proper on a map. Those Methodists didn't hesitate.

They relocated and bought one of the first town lots. One of the first. They were not going to be late to their own town.

By 1897 they had built Bay City's very first church structure, a frame building with a steeple and a bell, and because good neighbors share what they've got, that building served as a Union church for other denominations in town too. Now here's where the story gets a little wandering, in the best possible way. In 1904 the congregation purchased land at Fourth Street and Avenue H, and the original church building was sold to the Bay City school system.

So where did the congregation worship in the meantime? Well. Services moved to the courthouse.

Then to a building on the square. Then, and I love this detail, someone said let's just build a temporary open-air tabernacle, and they did. Sky for a ceiling, Texas air for walls.

Additional land came in 1906, and then finally, under the pastorate of A. S. Whitehurst, a new sanctuary was completed in 1909.

The congregation's fifth building went up in 1958 and was dedicated on March 30th of that year. From a handful of folks gathered along the Colorado River at Red Bluff, to a congregation that has been part of Bay City and Matagorda County history for over a century. That's not just a church.

That's the whole arc of a community, told in lots bought early and bells hung high.

What the marker says

The origins of this congregation date to 1870, when circuit-riding ministers visited people living along the Colorado River at Red Bluff. Norman Savage (1826-1879), a church elder, served the small congregation, and the first minister was Thomas W. Rogers. When the town of Bay City was surveyed in 1894 the Methodist congregation relocated and bought one of the first town lots. By 1897 they had built Bay City's first church structure, a frame building with a steeple and bell. The building also served as a Union church for other denominations in the town. The congregation purchased land at Fourth Street and Avenue H in 1904, and the original church building was later sold to the Bay City school system. Services were held in the courthouse and a building on the square until a temporary open-air tabernacle was built. Additional land was acquired in 1906, and a new sanctuary was completed in 1909 during the pastorate of A. S. Whitehurst. The church's fifth building was erected in 1958 and dedicated on March 30 of that year. A part of Bay City and Matagorda county history for over a century, the Bay City Methodist Church continues to serve the community. (1987)