First Methodist Church of Holliday

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Methodist Church of Holliday, out in Archer County. Now settle in, because this one goes back further than you might expect. The records of this congregation date to 1892, but the story actually starts a little earlier than that.

Methodist circuit-riding ministers were already working this stretch of Texas as far back as 1889. Think about what that meant. Men on horseback, covering territory that didn't yet have much of anything to offer in the way of comfort, just the land and the people scattered across it.

They came anyway. The first pastor of the Holliday church was R. P.

McElwreath, and under the work of this congregation, ten acres of land were deeded to the church. That plot became known as the Holliday Campground. Now, the first actual church building didn't go up overnight.

It was erected about 1900, and the marker is careful to credit one man in particular for making it happen. James Madison Taylor, born in 1836 and died in 1921, was a church member whose efforts were largely responsible for getting that building off the ground. You don't forget a name like James Madison Taylor, and apparently Holliday didn't forget what he did for them either.

But here's the turn in the story. That wooden frame church, the one Taylor worked so hard to bring into existence, was razed in the 1920s. Gone.

And so the congregation built again. This time in brick. The new structure went up in 1927, during the pastorate of S.

M. Dunham. From circuit riders in 1889, to a campground, to a wooden church, to brick.

That's not just a building changing. That's a community deciding, more than once, that it isn't going anywhere.

What the marker says

Although records of the congregation date to 1892, Methodist circuit-riding ministers were serving this area as early as 1889. R. P. McElwreath was the first pastor of the Holliday church. Ten acres of land were deeded to the church, and the plot was known as the Holliday Campground. The first church building was erected about 1900, largely due to the efforts of church member James Madison Taylor (1836-1921). The wooden frame church was razed in the 1920s, and a new brick structure was built in 1927 during the pastorate of S.M. Dunham. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.