DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice — this is Duane's telling. Now, out where Langham Creek and Bear Creek come together in Harris County, German immigrants were putting down roots as far back as the 1840s. And for a good long while, if you wanted to worship on a Sunday morning, you loaded up and traveled to wherever the nearest church happened to be.
That was just the deal. But somewhere around 1879, seven charter members decided they'd had enough of the traveling and established the Bear Creek German Methodist Church right there in their own community. Seven people.
That's all it takes sometimes. They started the way so many frontier congregations did — meeting in one another's homes, passing the gathering from kitchen to parlor and back again. Eventually the congregation was made a mission of the Rose Hill Methodist Church near Tomball, and things grew from there.
In 190 — and the marker does give us that date, partial as it is — a small church building was erected near the Hillendahl Family Cemetery. Now, the land had a problem. It was poorly drained and often just plain inaccessible.
You can imagine a congregation sloshing their way to Sunday services and thinking: there has got to be a better spot. So in 1902, they moved the sanctuary — the whole thing — to three acres donated by Fred and Katherine Brandt. Part of that acreage was laid out as a cemetery, and in 1904, Christine Backen became the first person recorded buried there.
That cemetery is still active today, maintained by the Addicks Bear Creek Cemetery Association. Things were looking up. New ground, proper drainage, a real home.
And then a summer storm in 1915 went ahead and destroyed the sanctuary. Just like that. But here's the part worth noting — by the end of that same year, a new church building had been erected.
The congregation didn't take long to grieve before they got back to work. The next blow came slower but hit wider. Area flooding in 1935 set in motion the construction of the nearby Addicks Reservoir, which was completed in 1940.
And with that reservoir came the subsequent removal of the church itself — relocated to another site, about one point seven miles south of here. The congregation carried its faith right along with it. In 1968, they changed their name to Addicks United Methodist Church.
From seven families meeting in borrowed living rooms in 1879, to a church that outlasted floods, storms, and relocation — that's a congregation that knew how to hold on.
What the marker says
German immigrants settled in the area surrounding the junction of Langham and Bear creeks in the 1840s. Settlers traveled to nearby churches for Sunday services until about 1879 when seven charter members established the Bear Creek German Methodist Church. The congregation initially met in members' homes. The church was subsequently made a mission of the Rose Hill Methodist Church near Tomball. In 190 a small church building was erected near the Hillendahl Family Cemetery. The site proved to be poorly drained and often inaccessible, and in 1902 the congregation moved the sanctuary here on three acres donated by Fred and Katherine Brandt. A part of the acreage was laid out as a cemetery. Christine Backen's burial in 1904 was the first recorded here. The cemetery is still active and is maintained by the Addicks Bear Creek Cemetery Association. A summer storm destroyed the sanctuary in 1915 but by the end of that year a new church building had been erected. Area flooding in 1935 resulted in the construction of the nearby Addicks Reservoir in 1940 and the subsequent removal of the church to another site about 1.7 miles south of here. The congregation changed its name to Addicks United Methodist Church in 1968.