First Methodist Church of Bronte

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it its due. Way out in Coke County, in the town of Bronte, the First Methodist Church has a story that starts the way a lot of good Texas stories start, outdoors, in the summer heat, with not much more than faith and shade to work with. The year was 1890, and a small group of worshipers gathered under a brush arbor on East Kickapoo Creek.

Leading them was the Reverend J.W. Montgomery, and right there, in the open air with the creek nearby and the summer sun doing what a Texas summer sun does, they organized a church. No walls, no roof to speak of, just the arbor and the intention.

That's a foundation worth remembering. Later that same year, the Reverend G.F. Fair took over as pastor, and the congregation moved indoors, into an old school house.

A step up, you might say. The years rolled on, the congregation held together, and in 1907 they built themselves a proper sanctuary. That building served them faithfully, Sunday after Sunday, decade after decade, until 1951, when a new structure finally replaced it.

From a brush arbor to a built sanctuary to a new house of worship, the congregation kept growing into itself. And they were never just looking inward. Throughout their history, these folks were involved in missionary activities, carrying that original brush-arbor spirit well beyond East Kickapoo Creek.

In 1968, the congregation became First United Methodist Church. What began in the summer shade of 1890 is still standing in Bronte today, and now you know how it got there.

What the marker says

This congregation traces its history to the summer of 1890, when a small group of worshipers led by the Rev. J.W. Montgomery gathered under a brush arbor on East Kickapoo Creek to organize a church. Later that year the Rev. G.F. Fair became the pastor of the church, which met in an old school house. A sanctuary was built in 1907 and served the congregation until it was replaced by a new structure in 1951. Throughout its history this congregation, which became First United Methodist Church in 1968, has been involved in missionary activities. (1988)