First United Methodist Church of Leonard

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Back in 1880, somebody planted a town called Leonard out here in Fannin County. The ink wasn't even dry on that founding before the Methodist congregation got itself organized, three years after the town came into being.

Now, a congregation without a proper home is just a gathering, and these folks knew it. So they set to work on what would become their second sanctuary, a brick structure with Gothic revival detailing, the kind of building that says we're not goin' anywhere. It was completed in 1906, raised up during the pastorates of two men, the Reverend E.

G. Roberts and the Reverend S. P.

Ulrich. Two shepherds, one building. That's a lot of meetings, a lot of decisions, a lot of mortar and faith mixed together.

But here's the part worth savoring. They didn't just finish the building and call it done. Three years after completion, the congregation gathered for a special dedication service, and they came to that service with something most building committees only dream about.

They came with no debt. Not a penny owed. And to mark the occasion, Bishop W.

B. Murrah himself delivered the sermon. When a congregation dedicates a free and clear house of worship with a bishop in the pulpit, well, that's not just a Sunday service.

That's a statement.

What the marker says

This brick structure was built as the second sanctuary for the Leonard Methodist congregation, which was organized three years after the founding of the town in 1880. Completed in 1906, it was constructed during the pastorates of the rev. E. G. Roberts and the Rev. S. P. Ulrich. Three years later the building was dedicated free of debt at a special service which included a sermon by Bishop W. B. Murrah. The styling features Gothic revival detailing. RTHL - 1980