First Methodist Church of Wellington

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Collingsworth County, in the town of Wellington, there's a congregation with a story that stretches all the way back to 1890. That's when the Reverend J.H.

Linderman gathered up a small group of charter members and organized what would become the First Methodist Church of Wellington. Now, they needed a place to worship, and Wellington being a young town, real estate options were, let's say, limited. So they did what practical Texans do.

They shared. The first worship services were held in a small wooden building that was pulling double duty as the first county courthouse. Church on Sunday, county business the rest of the week.

That building had range. From about 1891, the congregation moved their gatherings to a local schoolhouse, and they kept meeting there, year after year, until 1899. That's when they finally got their own front door.

Their first true sanctuary, completed right there on this very site. It must have felt like arriving. But a growing congregation has a way of outgrowing its walls.

By 1913, that first sanctuary had been replaced by a larger structure, and over the years, additional facilities were built to keep pace with the people filling the pews. Here's the quiet remarkable part the marker saves for the end. By 1984, this one congregation, started by a reverend and a small circle of believers in a borrowed courthouse, had become the only Methodist church in the entire county.

One building, one beginning, and nearly a century of showing up.

What the marker says

Organized in 1890 by the Rev. J.H. Linderman and a small group of charter members, this congregation was the only Methodist church in the county by 1984. The first worship services were held in a small wooden building which also served as the first county courthouse. The members met in a local schoolhouse from about 1891 until 1899, when their first sanctuary was completed at this site. That building was replaced in 1913 by a larger structure, and additional facilities were built over the years to accommodate the growing congregation. (1990)