DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and here's my take on it — so pull up a chair and listen close. Way back in the mid-1850s, long before Goldthwaite was even a name on a map, circuit-riding preachers were already making their way out through this part of Texas to minister to the early permanent settlers scattered across the land. No church building waiting for them — no steeple, no pews, nothing like that.
The pioneers gathered where they could: in private homes, out of doors under whatever sky the day gave them, or crammed into a one-room schoolhouse. For a time, the congregation was led by a man called The Rev. H.
Childress. Now, they didn't call him the reverend or the preacher or even the minister — they called him the bear-hunting preacher. Why?
Because of the firearms he carried for protection while traveling these roads. That's the kind of frontier ministry that doesn't fit neatly into a Sunday bulletin. Then 1885 rolled around, and the Santa Fe Railway founded the town of Goldthwaite.
Railroad crews and passengers made for a ready market for goods and services, and new residents came flowing in. That very same year, those newcomers formed a local congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Rev.
C. V. Oswalt stepped in as the first pastor, and within two years — two years — the congregation had completed its first church structure, a wood frame building.
That was just the beginning. Since then, the congregation kept building, each structure progressively larger than the last, growin' right along with the community it served. Denominational mergers brought new names along the way: First Methodist Church in 1939, and then First United Methodist Church in 1968.
From circuit riders carrying firearms through the brush to a full congregation standing in a community cornerstone — the marker says it plain: active in missionary and social service since its very beginning. Some things in Texas just hold.
What the marker says
Goldthwaite Methodists trace their history to the mid-1850s, when circuit-riding preachers began traveling to the area to minister to early permanent settlers. The pioneers gathered for services in private homes, out of doors, or in a one-room schoolhouse. For a time they were led by The Rev. H. Childress, who was known as the "bear-hunting preacher" because of the firearms he carried for protection while traveling. In 1885, the Santa Fe Railway founded the town of Goldthwaite. The town's railroad crew and passengers formed a ready market for goods and services, attracting new residents, who formed a local congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that year. The Rev. C. V. Oswalt was the first pastor, and within two years the congregation completed its first church structure, a wood frame building. Since that time, the congregation has built several progressively larger church structures to accommodate its growth. Due to denominational mergers, the congregation changed its name to the First Methodist Church in 1939, and to the First United Methodist Church in 1968. Active in missionary and social service since its beginning, the First Methodist Church remains an important part of the religious life of this community.