First Methodist Church of Bryan

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Way back before there was much of anything settled in this part of Brazos County, the Methodists were already out here, and the men bringing the Word weren't riding in comfort. They were circuit riders, moving from place to place, preaching wherever they could find a roof over their heads.

Two of those men are worth naming. The Reverend Robert Alexander, presiding elder of the district, was one of them. The other was the Reverend H.V.

Philpott, who conducted services in a hall above a saloon. Now that detail just sits there in the record like it's perfectly ordinary, and maybe for a circuit rider it was. You preached where the people were.

You worked with what you had. Then came the Reverend H.G. Horton, and things started to change.

He organized this congregation in 1868, and he didn't stop there. He soon raised five hundred dollars to build a church right on this site. The land itself was deeded by the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, which tells you something about how a town gets put together, piece by piece, deed by deed.

A brick church went up in 1902. That sounds like arrival, like permanence. And then 1906 came along.

The church burned. Just like that, something solid was gone. But the congregation rebuilt, and by 1908 there was a church standing here again.

The story kept going from there. During the nineteen-twenties, an adjacent residence was bought and remodeled, turned into classrooms and a fellowship hall. And in 1951, a new sanctuary was completed.

From a hall above a saloon to a sanctuary of their own. That's not a short road, but then again, circuit riders never did take the short road.

What the marker says

Among the circuit riders who preached to early Methodists in this area were The Rev. Robert Alexander, presiding elder of the district, and The Rev. H.V. Philpott, who conducted services in a hall above a saloon. The Rev. H.G. Horton organized this congregation in 1868 and soon raised $500 to build a church on this site, deeded by the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. A brick church, erected in 1902, burned in 1906 and was rebuilt in 1908. During the 1920s, an adjacent residence was bought and remodeled for classrooms and the fellowship hall. A new sanctuary was completed in 1951.