Floresville United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place, and friend, there's more to this story than you might expect from a church on a Wilson County corner. It starts, as so many good Texas stories do, around a kitchen table. October 25, 1875, and the home of Mr. and Mrs.

W. C. Agee was the setting for the organizational meeting of the Floresville Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

The man who led that formation was the Reverend Ichabod Kingsbury, a name that sounds like it belongs in a novel, and he served as the congregation's first pastor. Six charter members signed on: Mr. and Mrs. Agee themselves, Judge W.

L. Worsham, Mr. and Mrs. Zack Burrows, and a man named James C.

Wilson. Six people. That's where it began.

Now in those early years the congregation didn't have a building of its own, so they made do. Homes, the Wilson County Courthouse, a private school called Floresville Academy. Wherever there was room, there was a Sunday service.

Then came 1885. Under the pastorate of the Reverend W. H.

Killough, the congregation finally completed its first sanctuary, right on this very site. A real building. A real home.

They had waited a long time for that. They had it for less than a year. An 1886 storm destroyed it.

Now that's the kind of thing that breaks lesser congregations. But under the leadership of the Reverend J. C.

Russell, another building went up in 1887, and that one served the church all the way through 1942. Decades of Sundays inside those walls. Over the years, several area Methodist congregations merged with the Floresville church, broadening its reach and its service to the community.

By 1968 it had taken the name it carries today: the Floresville United Methodist Church. And when this marker was placed in 1984, the congregation was celebrating the Bicentennial of Methodism in America, still reflecting, the marker says, the ideals and traditions of those six charter members who gathered at the Agee home on a Tuesday in October, more than a century before. Six people at a kitchen table, and the thing they started is still standing.

What the marker says

The organizational meeting for the Floresville Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Agee on October 25, 1875. The Rev. Ichabod Kingsbury led in the congregation's formation and served as first pastor. The six charter members included Mr. and Mrs. Agee, Judge W. L. Worsham, Mr. and Mrs. Zack Burrows, and James C. Wilson. During its early years, the congregation held worship services at various locations, including homes, the Wilson County Courthouse, and a private school known as Floresville Academy. Its first sanctuary, completed on this site in 1885 during the pastorate of The Rev. W. H. Killough, was destroyed in an 1886 storm. Under the leadership of The Rev. J. C. Russell, another building was constructed in 1887 and served the church until 1942. Several area Methodist congregations have merged with the Floresville church over the years, allowing it to provide additional service and leadership to the community. Known since 1968 as the Floresville United Methodist Church, the congregation continues to reflect the ideals and traditions of its founders as it celebrates the Bicentennial of Methodism in America. (1984)