Methodism in Mason County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. When Mason County organized in 1858, the Methodists were already there. Already putting down roots, already gathering to worship, served by circuit preachers who rode out to meet them, some preaching in English, some in German, covering this wide Texas hill country the best they could.

Now, you might think a community that small would have one little Methodist congregation, maybe two at most. But Mason had four. Four separate conferences, north and south for both the English and the German speaking memberships, all of them meeting, separately mind you, under the same roof of the community schoolhouse.

Four congregations, one building, a whole lot of scheduling to work out. That schoolhouse must have known more hymns than arithmetic. Then came 1877, and something remarkable happened.

Those four conferences, different languages, different traditions, decided to build something together. One sanctuary, shared among all of them. And it worked, for a good while.

Worked well enough that the membership kept growing until that building just couldn't hold them anymore. So in the meantime, services moved into the county courthouse, keeping the faith alive while new facilities went up in the 1890s. That bought them the room they needed.

And the story kept unfolding. By 1939, all four of those conferences, the ones that had been meeting separately for generations, had fully united. One congregation where there had been four.

Along the way, Mason County Methodists built something else too, something harder to measure in bricks and board feet. They raised up pastors for ministry. They trained interns from Southern Methodist University.

They gave to charities, to missions, to orphanages, to hospitals. Four conferences became one, and that one kept giving. Not a bad legacy for a county that organized in 1858 with a handful of Methodists and a circuit preacher on horseback.

What the marker says

When Mason County organized in 1858, a number of Methodists lived in this area, served by English and German speaking circuit preachers. In the town of Mason, four different conferences (north and south for both English and German) met separately in the community schoolhouse. Together in 1877 they built a sanctuary, which was shared until the membership outgrew the building. Services were also held in the county courthouse before new facilities were built in the 1890s. By 1939, all the conferences had united. Methodists in Mason County have a long history in raising up pastors for ministry, as well as training interns from Southern Methodist University. They have also given extensively to charities, missions, orphanages and hospitals. (2008)