First Methodist Church of Burkburnett

Duane's take

Here's how the marker at First Methodist Church of Burkburnett tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this one starts small, like most good Texas stories do. A one-room frame building on Sixth Street.

Early nineteen hundreds. Part school, part church, part place to catch up with your neighbors on a Sunday afternoon. That was the whole of it for the Methodists of Burkburnett township, at least for a while.

But a one-room frame building has a way of feeling smaller every year, especially when a town is growing around it. Enter M.W. and Lula Majors. They'd moved to the new town of Burkburnett to open a store, and they brought more than merchandise with them.

Lula was a former schoolteacher, the kind of woman who had already helped build the town's first schoolhouse, and she was not the type to sit still when something needed doing. She joined up with a preacher named Frank L. McGehee and other active Methodists, and together they ran a campaign to build a proper sanctuary.

Lula worked hard enough at it that folks started calling her Mother Majors. That name was earned, not given lightly. They had help from another corner too.

Banker and philanthropist John G. Hardin had a habit of helping city churches develop through loans and donations, and the Methodist congregation was among those he supported. The result was a frame sanctuary at Fifth Street and Avenue C.

They acquired a bell for the steeple. And the first organ, now here's a detail worth savoring, it came from the Nesterville Schoolhouse on Gilbert Creek. On April 12, 1908, the congregation held its very first service in that new building.

The man behind the pulpit that day was Hiram A. Boaz, president of Polytechnic College in Fort Worth, who would later be elected Methodist Bishop. Not a bad way to break in a new sanctuary.

The Methodist Conference named Circuit Rider McGehee the first pastor, and he rode that circuit faithfully, preaching there one Sunday a month. The church grew as Burkburnett grew, and Burkburnett had some growing to do. The oil boom of 1918 sent things skyward, and later the enlargement of nearby Sheppard Air Force Base after World War II brought another wave of expansion.

The congregation built a new brick sanctuary in 1925, then added an education wing in 1957. From that one-room frame building on Sixth Street, to a bell and a borrowed organ, to brick walls and a century of Sundays. The First United Methodist Church of Burkburnett kept pace with every chapter this town wrote, and then some.

What the marker says

Burkburnett township’s Methodists began attending church services on Sixth street in the early 1900s, in a one-room frame building that was a combination school, church, and social gathering place. M.W. and Lula Majors, who moved to the new town of Burkburnett to open a store, were instrumental in finding the Methodist congregation its own home. Lula, a former schoolteacher who also helped build the town’s first schoolhouse, joined with preacher Frank L. McGehee and other active Methodists in a campaign to build a sanctuary, earning her the name “Mother Majors.” Banker and philanthropist John G. Hardin helped several city churches develop through loans and donations, including the Methodist church that built a frame sanctuary at 5th Street and Avenue C. The church acquired a bell for the steeple, and the first organ came from the Nesterville Schoolhouse on Gilbert Creek. The congregation held its first service on April 12, 1908. Hiram A. Boaz, president of polytechnic college in Fort Worth and later elected Methodist Bishop, delivered the first sermon in the new church. The Methodist Conference named Circuit Rider McGehee the first pastor, and he preached here one Sunday a month. The church experienced periods of expansive growth along with Burkburnett, especially following the oil boom of 1918 and again with the enlargement of nearby Sheppard Air Force Base after World War II. The congregation built a new brick sanctuary in 1925 and added an education wing in 1957. The First United Methodist Church of Burkburnett has made contributions to the community for more than a century.