First United Methodist Church of Terrell

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, 1873 was a busy year in what would become Terrell, Texas. The Texas and Pacific Railroad had just opened a station at the townsite, and right alongside that iron and steam, the Reverend J.

W. Fields showed up to tend to something else entirely. Fields, born in 1817, organized what would grow into the First United Methodist Church of Terrell that very same year.

You think about that: a railroad and a congregation, arriving together like they'd made prior arrangements. One was hauling freight. The other had its eye on something more permanent.

A frame church went up, and by 1877 the Sunday School was underway. Modest beginnings. But modest has a way of not staying that way for long.

By 1900, the membership had climbed to four hundred and ninety-five souls, and that original frame building just wasn't going to hold the weight of that many Methodists. So down it came, and up went a larger brick edifice in its place. Now the congregation wasn't content to just tend its own flock, either.

When Wesley College came to Terrell (operating right there from 1905 to 1911), this fellowship helped support it. And in 1905, they built the City Tabernacle, which served as a site for public gatherings all the way through 1915. A church that made room for the whole community, not just its own.

And if you want one last measure of what this congregation meant to the wider Methodist world, consider this: the North Texas Methodist Conference chose to hold four of its sessions right here, hosted by these very people. The Reverend J. W.

Fields, who lived until 1886, organized something in 1873 that outlasted the railroad station, outlasted the frame church, outlasted the tabernacle itself. Some things, it turns out, are built to go the distance.

What the marker says

The Rev. J. W. Fields (1817-1886) organized this church in 1873, the same year the Texas & Pacific Railroad opened a station at the Terrell townsite. A frame church was built and the Sunday School started in 1877. In 1900, when the membership had grown to 495, a larger brick edifice replaced the first sanctuary. This fellowship helped support Wesley College, located here from 1905 to 1911, and built the City Tabernacle, site of public gatherings from 1905 to 1915. Four sessions of the North Texas Methodist Conference have been hosted by this congregation.