First Methodist Church of Groesbeck

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back in 1871, a man named the Reverend Mordecai Yell rode into Groesbeck and conducted the very first Methodist worship services the town had ever seen. That same year, the congregation was founded, and right there you've got the seed of something that would put down roots and hold.

Now, they didn't have a proper sanctuary yet. For years the congregation gathered in a community building over on North Waco Street, making do, worshiping with what they had. That's a certain kind of faith right there.

Then came 1879, and they finished their first real sanctuary, built on Trinity Street. The congregation kept growing, kept gathering, and by 1893 they had become a full station with a full-time pastor. That's the kind of milestone a community notices.

And then, in 1903, they picked up and moved to the very site where that marker stands today. Through all of it, through every decade and every change, the First Methodist Church of Groesbeck kept its hands busy, supporting foreign and domestic missionary endeavors, tending to local community activities, reaching outward and inward both at once. Started with one reverend, one year, one congregation.

The rest, well, the rest is Groesbeck.

What the marker says

The Rev. Mordecai Yell conducted the first Methodist worship services in Groesbeck in 1871, the year this congregation was founded. Early worship services were held in a community building on N. Waco Street until the first sanctuary was completed on Trinity Street in 1879. The congregation became a full station with a full-time pastor in 1893, and moved to this site in 1903. Throughout its history, the First Methodist Church has supported foreign and domestic missionary endeavors as well as local community activities. (1991)