First United Methodist Church of Rockwall

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First United Methodist Church of Rockwall. Pull up a chair, because this one goes back a long way. Before Rockwall County even existed, before there was a county courthouse, before there were county lines drawn on any map, there was a congregation.

It started the way a lot of things started out on the Texas frontier: in somebody's home. Specifically, in the home of Mrs. Hugh Shaw, where area pioneers gathered for early worship services.

No steeple, no pews, no stained glass. Just neighbors, and faith, and a parlor. From those humble beginnings, the church was formally organized in 1856.

Several years before Rockwall County itself came into being. Think about that for a moment. The congregation is older than the county it calls home.

When it was constituted, it had less than twenty members and it was guided by the Reverend J. A. Scruggs.

Twenty people, give or take. You could seat them all at a couple of long tables. But they were committed.

While they waited on a proper sanctuary, they met in the local Masonic lodge building, borrowing space, making do, the way pioneers did. Then came 1874, and with it, something permanent. A one-room frame structure went up at 102 North Fannin Street (the first sanctuary), and it had a belfry and a tall steeple.

You could see that steeple. You could hear that bell. For a young frontier community, that meant something.

Now, for the first three decades of its life, the First Methodist Church of Rockwall shared its ministers with other pioneer area Methodist churches out in the surrounding country. No single preacher belonged to them alone. But the congregation kept growin', and by 1887, the membership had grown enough that the Reverend James McDugald was appointed to serve as the first full-time pastor.

Their own minister, all to themselves, at last. Growth has a way of demanding space, and so additional facilities were built over time to accommodate the membership's continued expansion. Eventually, the church relocated to this very site in 1981.

More than a hundred years after that first sanctuary rose on North Fannin Street, they moved, but they didn't disappear. The marker tells us that for more than a hundred years, the First United Methodist Church of Rockwall has sponsored many active organizations within its congregation, providing great service and leadership to the community. And here's the line that lands it: many descendants of the original fellowship (those same less-than-twenty souls who gathered in Mrs.

Hugh Shaw's home) continue to worship here. The county came later. The steeple came later.

But the congregation was there first, and it's there still.

What the marker says

This congregation developed from early worship services conducted by area pioneers in the home of Mrs. Hugh Shaw. The church was formally organized in 1856, several years prior to the formation of Rockwall County. Constituted with less than twenty members under the direction of the Rev. J. A. Scruggs, the small fellowship met in the local Masonic lodge building until the first sanctuary was constructed at 102 North Fannin Street in 1874. The one-room frame structure featured a belfry and a tall steeple. During its first three decades, the First Methodist Church of Rockwall shared its ministers with other pioneer area Methodist churches. By 1887, however, membership in the First Methodist Church had grown such that the Rev. James McDugald was appointed to serve as the congregation's first full-time pastor. To accommodate the membership's continued growth, additional facilities were later built, and the church relocated to this site in 1981. For more than 100 years, the First United Methodist Church of Rockwall has sponsored many active organizations in its congregation which have provided great service and leadership to the community of Rockwall. Many descendants of the original fellowship continue to worship here. (1983)