DUANE
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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 1855, out in the pioneer settlement of Perry, two miles northeast of where we're standin' now, a group of folks came together and organized a union church. That's a congregation drawing from different denominations, pooling their faith in a place where churches were still a rare and precious thing.
Perry was their town, and that union church was the heart of it. Then came 1881. The Santa Fe Railroad was laid through central Texas, and when a railroad comes through, it doesn't just bring trains.
It brings a whole new world. A town called Moody grew up right along those tracks, and many of the residents of Perry, seeing where the future was headed, packed up and moved to the new railroad town. The Perry Union Church didn't disappear, though.
It came with them. The methodists among that congregation carried their faith right into Moody, and a small group began gathering in their new home. The Rev.
J.W. Tremble became their first minister, part-time, tending to this flock as it found its footing. By 1884, they had something to show for it.
A proper sanctuary, built on Fourth Street. A real place to belong. And this congregation kept growing, kept worshiping, until 1956, when they settled at the very site where that marker stands today.
From a pioneer union church in a settlement that no longer exists, to a congregation that never stopped. That's a long road, and they walked every mile of it.
What the marker says
This congregation grew from an 1855 union church organized in the pioneer settlement of Perry (2 mi. NE). When the Santa Fe Railroad was laid through central Texas in 1881, the town of Moody grew up along its tracks, and many of the residents of Perry moved to the new railroad town. The Rev. J.W. Tremble became the first part-time minister for the small group of methodists who had come from the Perry Union Church. The first sanctuary was built on Fourth Street in 1884. The congregation has worshiped at this site since 1956.