First United Methodist Church of Bridgeport

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it: this one's about the First United Methodist Church of Bridgeport, up in Wise County. The year was 1893. Now, that happened to be the same year the Rock Island rail line reached the Bridgeport area, and right in the middle of all that arriving and beginning, a congregation was taking shape.

No building yet. No steeple, no pews. Just folks gathering under brush arbors and inside the Masonic Lodge building, making do with what the land and their neighbors could offer.

On June 23 of that year, a Methodist circuit rider named Ben W. Bounds stepped up and preached the very first sermon. A circuit rider, mind you; the kind of preacher who covered the territory on horseback, carrying the Word to wherever it needed to go.

That first sermon set something in motion. Within the first year of the church's founding, a man and woman named Mr. and Mrs. W.

H. Johns donated land for a proper church building. The spot those two gave over came to be known as Methodist Hill.

Now that name tells you something about how a community stakes its claim on the landscape. The congregation built on that hill and worshiped there until the building burned. Rebuilt it was, during the pastorate of the Reverend Jack Lowry, before the 19th century closed out.

The church carried forward into the 20th century, growing right along with the town around it. And Bridgeport itself was a town in motion; coal mining town first, then a commercial center drawing in the area's ranchers and dairy farmers, then a popular tourist destination for visitors headed to Lake Bridgeport. Through every one of those chapters, the First Methodist Church moved with it, eventually relocating in the 1960s to a new site with expanded facilities.

Outreach, education, community; those became the steady rhythm of its mission. More than a hundred years of it. The brush arbors are long gone.

Methodist Hill is a memory with a name. But the congregation Ben W. Bounds preached to on that June day in 1893 is still there, still part of what makes Bridgeport what it is.

Some things, turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

Organized in 1893, the same year the Rock Island rail line reached the Bridgeport area, this congregation first held its worship services under brush arbors and in the Masonic Lodge building. Methodist circuit rider Ben W. Bounds preached the first sermon on June 23 of that year. Within the first year of the church's founding, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Johns donated land for a church building on what became known as "Methodist Hill." The Methodists in Bridgeport worshiped in their new space until it burned and was rebuilt during the pastorate of the Rev. Jack Lowry at the end of the 19th century. Growth and development throughout the 20th century resulted in the First Methodist Church moving to a new site with expanded facilities in the 1960s. As Bridgeport grew from a coal mining town to a commercial center for area ranchers and dairy farmers to a popular tourist destination for visitors to Lake Bridgeport, the Methodist church has maintained its active commitment to the community. Outreach and education programs play a strong role in the congregation's mission and ministry. For more than 100 years, the First United Methodist Church of Bridgeport has been a significant part of the town's religious heritage. (2001)