First Methodist Church of Rocksprings

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll let the marker do the talkin'. Now, every congregation's got an origin story, and the First Methodist Church of Rocksprings has one that starts (of all places) in a schoolhouse. Back in 1893, the Rev.

D. O. McAllister was leading organized religious gatherings on property owned by a woman named Mary Buswell.

From there, the faithful spread out wherever they could find a roof: a public schoolhouse, the county courthouse. Wherever there was room, there was worship. Building a church, though; that takes land, and it takes money.

The land came from J. R. Stanford, S.

A. Hough, and Dave Elms. The organizing spirit came from J.

J. Gill, Ira L. Wheat, and Mrs.

J. R. Stanford, who kept the Sunday Schools and church socials running.

And the money? Well. The money came from Herman Fleischer, Sr., Joe Burris, and George Newton, who were, as the marker is happy to tell you, saloon owners.

They donated buckets. Filled with silver dollars. The Lord, it seems, is not particular about the vessel.

The first actual church structure went up around 1900, and for a good while it served the entire community for religious worship; every soul in Rocksprings, waiting on their own buildings to be erected. That's a congregation being a community before it was anything else. Now.

I want you to picture the spring of 1927. A storm and tornado (the marker calls it severe enough to detach the church bell clapper and deposit it five miles away) ripped through that community. Five miles.

The clapper didn't just fall off; it traveled. And when that storm was done, the church structure was gone. And so was the minister, H.

L. Spires, and his wife. Both of them, killed.

That is the kind of sentence you sit with for a moment. The congregation did not sit long. By 1928, one year later, they had erected a new building.

That's not bounce-back. That's something closer to defiance. The church went on to support missionary work reaching all the way to Korea and Zaire.

Its pastors kept up the early tradition of serving Methodist congregations throughout Edwards County, carrying on a practice that stretches all the way back to Rev. McAllister and that schoolhouse on Mary Buswell's property. A clapper five miles from its bell.

A new building standing where the old one fell. Some stories don't need embellishment; they just need to be told straight.

What the marker says

This congregation traces its beginning to organized religious gatherings led by the Rev. D. O. McAllister in a schoolhouse located on property owned by Mary Buswell in 1893. Early worship services were also held in a public schoolhouse and in the county courthouse. Contributors to the church's initial success include donors of land J. R. Stanford, S. A. Hough, and Dave Elms; organizers of Sunday Schools and church socials J. J. Gill, Ira L. Wheat, and Mrs. J. R. Stanford; and donors of buckets filled with silver dollars, saloon owners Herman Fleischer, Sr., Joe Burris and George Newton. The first church structure was built about 1900. It was used by the entire community for religious worship until other church buildings could be erected. A storm and tornado, so severe as to detach the church bell clapper and deposit it five miles away, ripped through the community in 1927 destroying the church structure and killing First Methodist Church minister H. L. Spires and his wife. The congregation quickly recovered and erected a new building in 1928. The congregation has supported missionary work in many parts of the world, including Korea and Zaire. Church pastors have continued the early practice of serving Methodist congregations throughout the county. (1992)