First United Methodist Church of Elkhart

Duane's take

The way this marker tells it, and the way I'm passing it along to you, here's the story of the First United Methodist Church of Elkhart, Anderson County, Texas. Now, eighteen-forty. That's where this story begins.

Before there was a proper church building, before there was even a town worth naming on most maps, a group of citizens in this area gathered themselves together and formed a small congregation. They met in private homes. No pews, no steeple, just neighbors and a shared faith and somebody's parlor floor.

That was the first Methodist service held in this area, and it planted something. It took a while for that something to take formal root. Thirty-eight years, to be exact.

In eighteen seventy-eight, a Methodist mission was established in Elkhart. And the man put in charge of it was the Reverend J. F.

Henderson, a circuit riding minister. Now, when I say circuit riding, I want you to appreciate what that meant. Reverend Henderson wasn't just tending this one flock.

He was responsible for this mission and seven others in his district. Eight missions. One minister.

You do the imagining on what that schedule looked like. The church cycled through nine different clergymen in its first fifteen years. Nine.

Some congregations can't agree on one. By November of eighteen ninety-two, though, the congregation had grown enough that they made plans to build a real sanctuary. And what they built had some ambition to it.

A white frame structure, with a high steeple and a bell tower on one corner. Something you could see. Something that said: we are here, and we are staying.

A Sunday School program began. Then in nineteen-oh-seven the church created a youth ministry, and that program kept going and kept growing until it eventually formed what became the Methodist Youth Fellowship. In nineteen fifteen, the women of the church formed a missionary society.

The congregation wasn't just attending services. They were building something, layer by layer. Then came the nineteen thirties, which were hard years for just about everybody in Texas and beyond.

In late nineteen thirty, under the leadership of the Reverend J. L. Webb, a new church building program was begun.

They completed a one-story structure in nineteen thirty-three. And they weren't done. In nineteen thirty-nine they added a second story right on top of it.

In the nineteen fifties, a brick parsonage went up near the church. And still the congregation kept growing. By nineteen seventy-one, the need for a new sanctuary had arisen again.

They built an addition onto the northeast side of the old church. And on September fourteenth, nineteen seventy-four, that addition was consecrated. From a borrowed parlor in eighteen forty to a consecrated sanctuary in nineteen seventy-four.

That is one long, steady, determined march of a congregation. And Elkhart, Anderson County, is still on the map to prove it.

What the marker says

The First Methodist service held in this area was in 1840, when a group of citizens formed a small congregation that met in private homes. In 1878 a Methodist mission was established in Elkhart. The Rev. J. F. Henderson, a circuit riding minister, was in charge of this as well as seven other missions in his district. In its first fifteen years, the church was served by nine different clergymen. By November 1892, the congregation had grown such that plans were made to build a sanctuary. A white frame structure was erected, with a high steeple and bell tower on one corner. A Sunday School program began, and in 1907 the church created a youth ministry which continued over the years to form the Methodist Youth Fellowship. A missionary society was formed in 1915 by the women of the church. In late 1930, under the leadership of the Rev. J. L. Webb, a new church building program was begun. A one-story structure was completed in 1933, and a second story was added in 1939. A brick parsonage was built near the church in the 1950s, and by 1971 the need for a new sanctuary had arisen. The addition was made onto the northeast side of the old church, and was consecrated on September 14, 1974. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986