First United Methodist Church of McKinney

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. Gather 'round, because this one goes back a long way. Back to 1851, when what would become the First United Methodist Church of McKinney was nothing more than a mission (a mission of the Dallas Circuit, mind you) with no building to call its own, no steeple, no pews of its own at all.

They met where they could. The county courthouse. The Masonic hall.

A union church building. Wherever the doors were open, that congregation showed up. Now, there's something to be said for a people so committed they'll worship in a borrowed room, and these folks had that kind of commitment in abundance.

Seven years of that, and by 1858 the congregation had grown into something with real weight; it became the center of the McKinney Circuit. That's not a small thing. That's a congregation that other congregations were measuring themselves against.

Still, they didn't have their own walls. Not yet. That would take until 1876, when they finally erected a building of their own.

Three years after that, in 1879, they became an independent station. Standing on their own two feet at last. But the story doesn't end there, not by a long stretch.

Because somebody had a vision for something grander. The Rev. E.L.

Casey began that effort, and what came of it was a distinctive edifice completed in 1901. Turn-of-the-century craftsmanship, ornate in a way that said this congregation intended to be here for keeps. And it was, mostly.

In 1954, during high winds, the original steeple came crashing down. Just like that, one of the building's most dramatic features was gone. The structure has been altered and enlarged over the years, but here's the thing the marker wants you to sit with: it is still standing.

Still the last ornate, turn-of-the-century church building in the city of McKinney. From a borrowed courthouse bench in 1851 to the last of its kind, that's a story that earns its steeple.

What the marker says

This congregation originated in 1851 as a mission of the Dallas Circuit. At first it met in the county courthouse, Masonic hall, or a union church building. In 1858, it became center of the McKinney Circuit; erected in 1876 a building of its own; became an independent station in 1879. As a result of efforts begun by the Rev. E.L. Casey, this distinctive edifice was completed in 1901. The original steeple crashed in 1954 during high winds. Although altered and enlarged, this is the city's last ornate, turn-of-the-century church building. (1977)