DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Way back in 1838, a man named Isaac L.G. Strickland rode into Montgomery and set something in motion that would last well over a century and a half.
He established a Methodist congregation right here, and he wasn't working alone. He was operating under the direction of Elder Littleton Fowler, out of the Mississippi Methodist Conference. Now think about what 1838 means on the Texas calendar.
The Republic of Texas was brand new, still finding its footing, and this church was one of the first of its kind in that young republic. That's not a small thing. That is a foundation stone.
Strickland himself was assigned all the territory between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, and he made his headquarters right here in Montgomery. All that land, all those miles, one man's charge. He and the circuit riders who followed him covered that ground the hard way.
Four of those early circuit riders are buried in the adjacent Old Montgomery Cemetery, which also happens to be the site of the very first sanctuary this congregation ever called home. The church kept building. A second sanctuary went up in 1852, and then a third in 1908, each one rising on the same sacred ground.
The congregation worshipped here across generations, through everything Texas could throw at a community. Then, in 2002, Montgomery United Methodist Church moved on to a new location. The buildings are gone now, but the ground remembers.
Four circuit riders still rest next door, and the story of what started here in 1838 is permanently part of the record.
What the marker says
Isaac L.G. Strickland established a Methodist congregation in Montgomery in 1838, under the direction of Elder Littleton Fowler of the Mississippi Methodist Conference. The church was one of the first in the Republic of Texas; Strickland was assigned all the territory between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, making his headquarters in Montgomery. Four early circuit riders are buried in the adjacent Old Montgomery Cemetery, site of the first sanctuary. Montgomery United Methodist Church built two more sanctuaries here in 1852 and 1908 before moving to a new location in 2002.(2008)