First United Methodist Church of Gilmer

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. The First United Methodist Church of Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas. Pull up a chair, because this story goes back a good long way.

Gilmer's early settlers came in the mid-eighteenth century, carving out a life in the East Texas piney woods. By 1849, the Baptists and the Methodists were already neighbors in the truest sense, sharing space at the county's log courthouse for their Sunday services. Now picture that, a log courthouse doubling as a house of worship.

That tells you something right there about what mattered to the people who built this place. At that time, a Methodist circuit rider named Reverend J.B. Tullis was appointed to the Gilmer mission.

He and a man named J.L. Camp, Sr., got to work organizing a Sunday School for the early Methodist Episcopal Church, South, congregation. That congregation soon received a charter and was officially founded around 1852.

But the Methodists of Gilmer were not content to simply tend to souls on Sunday morning. They had plans. In 1854, the congregation organized a men's academy.

Two years after that, they established a women's academy as well. Two schools, run by a church, for a frontier community. Those academies were later administered by the local Masonic lodge, and they kept on going until 1862, when the Civil War brought them to a close.

Education, though, never stopped being important to this congregation. They kept reading and writing in their Sunday School programs, for all ages, long after those academy doors shut. Now the church's first two sanctuaries were frame structures, humble and practical.

But at this very site, deeded to the church in 1881, stood the second of those frame buildings, a white Gothic revival structure. Can you see it? White-painted wood, those pointed arches reaching up toward the East Texas sky.

By 1911, the congregation had grown to more than 450 members, and they built a larger brick structure on the same ground. The church kept building, kept growing. In 1924, church members financed a parsonage right next door to the sanctuary.

An educational building went up in 1948. Then in 1956, they dedicated a brand new sanctuary. A new parsonage was constructed in 1974, though they held onto the original home, putting it to use for the youth director and the youth group.

And speaking of youth, the church has always had its organizations doing the work. The youth and choir programs, the Women's Home Missionary Society, the Men's Bible Class, all of it woven into the fabric of this congregation through the decades. More than a hundred and fifty years after that first worship service shared in a log courthouse, the First United Methodist Church of Gilmer is still standing, still serving, still right here in the community that built it.

That, friends, is how you plant a church.

What the marker says

First United Methodist Church of Gilmer Gilmer's early settlers came in the mid-18th century. By 1849, records indicate Baptist and Methodist congregations shared space at the county's log courthouse for their services. At that time, the Rev. J.B. Tullis, a Methodist circuit rider, was appointed to the Gilmer mission. He and J.L. Camp, Sr., organized a Sunday School for the early Methodist Episcopal Church, South, congregation, which soon received a charter and was officially founded c. 1852. In 1854, the congregation organized a men's academy; two years later, they established a women's academy. These two schools, later administered by the local Masonic lodge, continued until they closed in 1862, during the Civil War. Education remained important in the Gilmer Methodist Church, which supported reading and writing in its Sunday School programs for all ages. The congregation's first two sanctuaries were frame structures. At this site, deeded to the church in 1881, stood the second structure, a white, Gothic revival building. The congregation, with more than 450 members, built a larger brick structure here in 1911. In 1924, church members financed a parsonage, located next to the sanctuary. The church continued to grow, adding an educational building in 1948 and, in 1956, dedicating a new sanctuary. They constructed a new parsonage in 1974 but retained the original home for use by the youth director and youth group. Organizations within the church have included the youth and choir programs, as well as the Women's Home Missionary Society and the Men's Bible Class. Through its mission and outreach, and with expanded facilities, Gilmer's First United Methodist Church continues to serve its community more than 150 years after its first worship services. (2003)