DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First United Methodist Church of San Angelo, out in Tom Green County. Now, you want to talk about building something that lasts — let me tell you about a church that got its start in the kind of country that didn't make anything easy. This was the 1870s, and that West Texas frontier was no Sunday stroll.
Indian-menaced, the marker calls it, and that phrase alone ought to paint you a picture of what it meant to plant a congregation out here. Before this church even had a name, the nearby community of Ben Ficklin — sitting about five miles south — had itself a Sunday school. Then a flood came and destroyed the area, closed the Sunday school right along with it, and left folks without a place to gather in faith.
Out of that loss, something new was organized. In November of 1882, the West Texas Methodist Conference chartered this church right here on this ground. And on this very site, they raised a frame building — forty by sixty feet, with a cupola on top.
Said to be the first Protestant church house between Mason and El Paso. Now that is a stretch of Texas that covers a whole lot of nothing, and they were the first. Let that settle a moment.
The man called to lead it was one Andrew Jackson Potter, born 1830, died 1895. The marker calls him a rugged frontiersman — and they call him Parson, not just Reverend, which ought to tell you something about the kind of preaching that went on out here. He was the founding pastor, and in 1886 he was succeeded by the Reverend Arthur E.
Rector, born 1855, died 1955 — the dynamic one, the marker says, as if to let you decide what that means for yourself. The congregation grew fast enough that they had to add twenty feet onto that frame building, just to make room for a nursery and a choir loft. Music mattered here.
Miss Mary West — who would later become Mrs. J. B.
Taylor — organized the first choir. And she was joined over the years by other leading musicians: Miss Amie Cornick, J. R.
Sanders, Mrs. L. B.
Horton, Mrs. F. O.
Perry, and Mrs. Mary Deal Metz. This was a congregation that could sing.
That original frame building served its time, but by 1904 it was replaced by a large masonry building in the square Akron style — a design that was very much in vogue at the time. Then in 1950, the present Gothic edifice was completed, and in 1962 a four-story educational building was added on top of all that. From its rugged frontier beginnings, born out of a flood's destruction, this church built itself into a community center for social and religious occasions alike, and excelled — the marker's word — in education, sacred music, and missionary activities across the years.
Not bad for something that started when the frontier was still pushing back.
What the marker says
A product of 1870s religious zeal on this Indian-menaced frontier. After flood destroyed area's early community of Ben Ficklin (5 mi. S), closing its Sunday school, this church was organized and chartered by the West Texas Methodist Conference in November of 1882. On this site was erected a forty by sixty-foot frame building with a cupola-- said to be the first Protestant church house between Mason and El Paso. The founding pastor was the rugged frontiersman, Parson Andrew Jackson Potter (1830-1895), succeeded in 1886 by the dynamic Rev. Arthur E. Rector (1855-1955). Rapid growth soon necessitated a twenty-foot addition for nursery and choir loft. The building became a community center for various social and religious occasions. Miss Mary West (later Mrs. J. B. Taylor) organized the first choir. Other leading musicians: Miss Amie Cornick, J. R. Sanders, Mrs. L. B. Horton, Mrs. F. O. Perry, and Mrs. Mary Deal Metz. The frame church was replaced in 1904 by a large masonry building in the square "Akron" style then in vogue. The present Gothic edifice was completed in 1950. Four-story educational building was added, 1962. This church has excelled in education, sacred music, and missionary activities over the years. (1972)