Leakey Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, friends, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back in 1856, John and Nancy Leakey did something that took either considerable courage or considerable stubbornness, and out here in the Texas Hill Country, those two things are often the same. They established a home and a sawmill in the Frio River Canyon area, becoming the very first settlers to put down roots in that wild stretch of country.

Now, where settlers go, community follows, and community (at least in Texas) tends to find its way to a church pew sooner or later. The origin of this congregation traces back to worship services held right there in the Leakey home, led by a Methodist circuit riding minister by the name of H. G.

Horton. Picture that: a preacher coming in on horseback, the canyon walls rising up around him, and folks gathering in a settler's front room to hear the Word. That's where it started.

By 1883, the Methodist congregation had grown enough to move into a schoolhouse in the newly established town of Leakey. Two years later, by 1885, that same schoolhouse was home to something called the Floral Sabbath Sunday School, a church school supervised by a Dr. F.

D. Johns. One building carrying a whole community's worth of business, the way frontier towns had a habit of doing.

Then came 1890, and a generous act that shaped everything that followed. J. B. and Fannie Johnson (Fannie being a Leakey by birth) donated a town lot to the congregation.

The Leakey Methodist Episcopal Church, South used that lot to build its very first sanctuary, completing the work across 1890 and 1891. From a home, to a schoolhouse, to a sanctuary of their own. After years meeting in that original sanctuary and, at some point, the county courthouse, the congregation built a new sanctuary at this very site in 1922.

The church took the name Leakey Methodist Church in 1939. An education building came in 1955, and a new parsonage followed in 1965. And through all of it (the circuit rider, the schoolhouse, the courthouse, the new construction) the congregation kept its traditions alive.

Annual Easter sunrise services. Community Thanksgiving services hosted every three years. Support for youth programs, senior programs, missionary efforts.

The Frio River Canyon has seen a lot of change since John and Nancy Leakey first swung an axe and fired up a sawmill. But this congregation? It's been here through nearly all of it, still providing religious guidance to the community, just like it was doing back when the minister rode in on horseback and the pews were somebody's kitchen chairs.

What the marker says

By establishing a home and sawmill nearby in 1856 John and Nancy Leakey became the first to settle in the Frio River Canyon area. This congregation traces its origin to worship services held in the Leakey home by Methodist circuit riding Minister H. G. Horton. In 1883 the Methodist congregation began meeting in a schoolhouse built in the newly established town of Leakey. By 1885 the schoolhouse was also the site of a church school known as the Floral Sabbath Sunday School supervised by Dr. F. D. Johns. A town lot donated by J. B. and Fannie (Leakey) Johnson in 1890 was used by the Leakey Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to build its first sanctuary in 1890-91. The congregation met in the original sanctuary and later the county courthouse before building a new sanctuary at this site in 1922. The church became the Leakey Methodist Church in 1939. An education building was added in 1955 and a new parsonage in 1965. Annual Easter sunrise services and hosting community Thanksgiving services every three years are traditional activities of the congregation. Leakey Methodist has historically supported many youth and senior programs and missionary efforts. The congregation continues to provide religious guidance for the community. (1994)