First United Methodist Church of Waxahachie

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First United Methodist Church of Waxahachie, out in Ellis County. Spring of 1849. The settlement of Waxahachie is brand new, so new the ink on the maps might as well still be wet, and a man named the Reverend Falacius Reynolds shows up with nine charter members and the determination to build something lasting.

They don't have a church. They don't even have a meetinghouse. What they've got is the cabin of E.

W. and Nancy Rogers, and apparently that was enough. Right there in that cabin, they established a Methodist society. Nine people and a preacher in a borrowed room.

You've heard of small beginnings. That qualifies. By 1852, the congregation had erected its first proper house of worship.

Four years later, in 1856, they built again; and this time they shared the new building with the local Cumberland Presbyterian and Baptist congregations. Different names on the door, same roof overhead. Then came 1866, and here's where the story takes on a little extra weight.

The Central Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized at the Waxahachie church. That's not just a local milestone; that's a regional one, and it happened right here. They erected a third building in 1893.

Stood for eleven years. Then, in 1904, fire took it. Just like that, gone.

Now, you might expect a congregation that had already been building and rebuilding since 1852 to take a breath, maybe take a year or two. They replaced it in 1905. One year.

The Depression era came along and tested them, the way it tested just about everything and everyone in Texas. But the congregation struggled through it, and by the 1940s and 1950s they were flourishing. In 1950 they erected a fifth church complex.

From a borrowed cabin in a brand-new settlement to a fifth building in a grown city, that's not just a congregation surviving. That's one that keeps showing up. And by the time this marker was recorded, the members were still active in community service.

Some stories don't end so much as they just keep going.

What the marker says

In the spring of 1849, the Rev. Falacius Reynolds and nine charter members met in the cabin of E. W. and Nancy Rogers in the new settlement of Waxahachie and established a Methodist society. The congregation erected its first house of worship in 1852. A new building, built in 1856, was shared with local Cumberland Presbyterian and Baptist congregations. In 1866 the Central Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized at the Waxahachie church. A third building, erected in 1893, was lost to a fire in 1904 and was replaced in 1905. The congregation struggled through the Depression era to flourish in the 1940s and 1950s. A fifth church complex was erected in 1950. Church members remain active in community service. (1999)