DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Methodist Church of Tulia, out there in Swisher County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way all good Texas stories do — with a handful of determined people and a whole lot of open prairie. The year was 1891.
The Reverend R. M. Morris, area presiding elder Jerome Harelson, and seventeen charter members sat down together and organized a congregation.
Seventeen people. You could seat them all at a couple of long tables. But don't let the small number fool you — those folks had plans.
Early on, they held worship services on alternate Sundays, sharing the town's one-room schoolhouse with the local Baptist and Presbyterian congregations. Three faiths, one building, rotating Sundays. Now that right there is a kind of neighborly arrangement you don't hear about every day.
Fast forward to 1897, and the Methodists decided it was time to put down something permanent. They built the town's first church building — and here's the detail I love — with lumber hauled all the way from Amarillo. That wasn't a quick errand.
The whole community pitched in, financial support and physical labor alike, which tells you something about what this little congregation meant to everybody in Tulia, not just the Methodists. And when the building went up, did they lock the doors to their neighbors? They did not.
The Baptists and the Presbyterians kept right on worshiping there until they could build their own facilities. The tradition of shared services just kept rolling. The congregation grew steadily over the years, tracking right alongside Tulia's own population growth — the town expanded, the pews filled.
By 1929 they completed a brand new sanctuary. Then the early 1960s arrived and even that wasn't enough anymore — additional facilities were required to meet what the congregation needed. In 1968 came a denominational name change, and the church became known as First United Methodist Church.
Then in 1979, the congregation welcomed the membership of Trinity United Methodist Church in a full merger of the two congregations. Two churches, one roof, one mission. From seventeen charter members in a one-room schoolhouse to a merged congregation serving Tulia with worship, educational, and outreach programs — that's not just a church growing.
That's a community holding onto itself, decade after decade, and refusing to let go.
What the marker says
The Reverend R. M. Morris, area presiding elder Jerome Harelson, and seventeen charter members organized this congregation in 1891. Early worship services, held on alternate Sundays in conjunction with the local Baptist and Presbyterian congregations, were conducted in the town's one-room schoolhouse. With financial and labor assistance from the entire community, the Methodists built the town's first church building in 1897 with lumber hauled from Amarillo. The tradition of shared services continued, and the Baptist and Presbyterian congregations also worshiped in the Methodist church building until their own facilities were built. Church membership grew steadily, closely paralleling Tulia's population growth. A new sanctuary was completed in 1929, and by the early 1960s additional facilities were required to meet the congregation's needs. After a denominational name change in 1968, it became known as First United Methodist Church. In 1979, the congregation welcomed the membership of Trinity United Methodist Church in a merger of the two congregations. First United Church continues to serve the citizens of Tulia with a variety of worship, educational, and outreach programs. (1991)