DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out on Walnut Creek, twelve miles north of Palestine, there's a congregation with deep roots and a story that starts — as the best Texas stories do — quietly, and then just keeps going. The marker says early denominational records place this congregation in existence as a mission church as early as 1880.
That's before the building, before the deed, before just about everything. Just people gathering, holding things together with faith and not much else. Then 1896 rolls around, and a couple named A.
L. and Susanna Herrington do something that changes the whole picture. They donate one acre — one acre — to the county, to be used for a free school. And on that acre, a one-room building goes up on Walnut Creek, serving as both schoolhouse and church meeting place.
The community went by the name Mount Vernon, and the Methodist church assumed that name, also. Now, a one-room building doing double duty is a proud thing, but communities have a way of outgrown their britches. By 1907, that little building gets picked up and moved two miles north of its original location, and two rooms get added to the structure for the growing school.
The congregation kept right on meeting there — same people, new address, bigger walls. But even that arrangement had its season. Come 1913, a site across the road from the school building was deeded to the Mount Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and that same year, a sanctuary was completed.
Their own place. Steady ground. Over the years that followed, the church maintained active programs, and — here's a detail worth savoring — it served as a training ground for many young ministers and student pastors from nearby Lon Morris College.
Young people finding their voices in a rural church on Walnut Creek. There's something right about that. The marker notes that for over one hundred years, the Mount Vernon Methodist Church has served as a center for its rural community.
One acre donated. One room built. One congregation that just kept on.
That's not a small story. That's the whole story.
What the marker says
Early denominational records indicate that this congregation was in existence as a mission church as early as 1880. In 1896, A. L. and Susanna Herrington donated one acre to the county to be used for a free school. A one-room school building was erected on the site, on Walnut Creek twelve miles north of Palestine, and also served as a church meeting place. The community was known as Mount Vernon, and the Methodist church assumed that name, also. The one-room building was moved in 1907 two miles north of its original location, and two rooms were added to the structure for the growing school. The congregation continued to meet in the building until 1913, when this site, across the road from the school building, was deeded to the Mount Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church, South. A sanctuary was completed the same year. The church has maintained active programs over the years, and has served as a training ground for many young ministers and student pastors from nearby Lon Morris College. For over one hundred years, the Mount Vernon Methodist Church has served as a center for its rural community. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986