Granbury Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Way back in 1871, a man named Reverend John R. Hill walked into Granbury with something on his mind and seven souls beside him; seven charter members, no more, no less.

And together they did what people out here have always done when they need something that doesn't exist yet: they built it themselves. They organized what they called the Granbury Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and they got to work. Now, they didn't have a proper sanctuary right off.

For over a decade, they gathered in a local schoolhouse; week after week, year after year, sharing the same floor where the children learned their letters come Monday morning. There's something about that, isn't there? The same walls holding both lessons.

That went on until 1883, when they finally completed their first sanctuary, right near this very site. And that was just the beginning. Because a congregation that starts with seven members and a borrowed schoolhouse tends to grow, and this one did.

Additional buildings went up over the years to keep pace with the people pouring in, with the families putting down roots, with a community that kept getting bigger and asking more of the church that served it. The name changed too; in 1968, it became the First United Methodist Church. A new name for an outfit that had been at it nearly a hundred years by then.

Worship, education, outreach; all of it, year after year, generation after generation. Seven members and a preacher in 1871. That's where it started.

Not bad for a beginning.

What the marker says

The Rev. John R. Hill and seven charter members organized this congregation as the Granbury Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1871. They conducted worship services in a local schoolhouse until 1883, when they completed their first sanctuary near this site. Additional buildings were constructed over the years to meet the needs of the growing congregation. The name was changed to First United Methodist Church in 1968. Throughout its history, the congregation has served the community with a variety of worship, educational, and outreach programs. (1994)