First United Methodist Church of Malakoff

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the First United Methodist Church of Malakoff, out there in Henderson County. Now settle in, because this story starts real small and travels a long way. Six people.

That's what you've got in 1852, six charter members gathered together by the Reverend Hezekiah Mitcham, a man born in 1800 who would carry this fellowship forward until his death in 1865. Six people, meeting in whatever location the county would offer them, moving from place to place like they were still figurin' out where they belonged. And maybe they were.

But by 1854, that little congregation had done something lasting. They erected one of the first Methodist church buildings in the entire county. A log cabin, chinked with mud, sitting on land donated by Mitcham's own son, James, in a small settlement called Caney Creek.

The church took the name Mitcham Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the community around it came to be called Mitcham Chapel as well. Now here's where the story takes a turn that nobody in that log cabin could have seen coming. The town would eventually be renamed Malakoff, after a village in Russia that had gained recognition during the Crimean War, which ran from 1853 to 1855.

A little log cabin in East Texas, tied by name to a battlefield on the other side of the world. The congregation, though, kept its eyes closer to home. It grew steadily through those early years, providing service and leadership to the community around it.

Then in 1883, the membership made a decision: they would move. The town of Malakoff itself had already relocated, a full one and a half miles southwest of the original townsite, pulled that direction when the railroad came through three years earlier. The church followed.

Several sanctuaries have served the congregation since that move, including one that did not survive a tornado in 1933. That building was destroyed. The congregation was not.

From six charter members in 1852, meeting wherever they could find a roof, the First United Methodist Church of Malakoff has kept on growing, and kept on carrying those early roots in Methodist history in Texas right along with it.

What the marker says

Organized in 1852 by the Rev. Hezekiah Mitcham (1800-1865), this fellowship began with six charter members who first held services in various locations throughout the county. In 1854 the small congregation erected one of the first Methodist church buildings in the county. A log cabin chinked with mud, it was located on land donated by Mitcham's son James in the small settlement of Caney Creek. The church was known as Mitcham Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the community also came to be called Mitcham Chapel. The town later was named Malakoff for a village in Russia that had gained recognition during the Crimean War (1853-55). The congregation grew steadily in its early years and provided service and leadership to the community. In 1883 the membership agreed to move to the relocated town of Malakoff, which had moved 1.5 miles southwest of the original townsite when the railroad came through three years earlier. Several sanctuaries, including one destroyed in a 1933 tornado, have served the church since the move. From its small beginnings, the First United Methodist Church of Malakoff has grown, while maintaining its important ties to early Methodist history in Texas.