Old Shiloh Methodist Church and Campground

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Way out in Houston County, there's a place called Old Shiloh Methodist Church and Campground, and its story reaches back further than most folks expect. As early as 1834, this ground was already a site of worship services, conducted by a man named Stephen F.

Box. Box was born around 1760, give or take, and he lived until 1844, which means he was out here preaching when Texas was still a different kind of country altogether. That alone ought to set the stage.

Around 1848, somebody put up a log house on the property. One building, two purposes: church on Sunday, school on whatever other day it needed to be. That's the kind of efficient thinking that kept frontier communities alive.

Then on January 21, 1867, a post office opened right there. Didn't last long. January 29, 1869, it closed.

Not even two years. And then, as if the place had decided to make a point, the log building itself burned in 1869. Gone.

Just like that. But the congregation didn't scatter. Services moved out to the campground and continued right on.

Now, a community that survives fire sometimes doesn't survive itself, and that's what happened next. Division among the members caused the erection of a whole separate church, New Shiloh, built one mile to the southwest. And New Shiloh, well, it later burned in a woods fire.

So the splinter congregation and its building are both gone from the story. Back at the old church body, things took a quieter turn. In 1880, a man named William Calvert Hallmark, born in 1804 and died that same year of 1880, willed this property to the old church.

Hallmark was Stephen F. Box's son-in-law, which means the land stayed connected to the very man who had been preaching here since 1834. And in 1883, the present structure was started.

One piece of ground. Worship in 1834. Fire in 1869.

Division, another fire, a bequest, and finally, a building that still stands. Old Shiloh has outlasted just about everything that tried to stop it.

What the marker says

As early as 1834, was site of worship services conducted by Stephen F. Box (1760?-1844). A log house built about 1848 served as both church and school. A post office opened Jan. 21, 1867; closed Jan 29, 1869. The log building burned in 1869 and services were held on the campground. Division among members caused erection of New Shiloh Church (1 mile SW), which later burned in a woods fire. In 1880, William Calvert Hallmark (1804-1880), son-in-law of Box, willed this property to the old church body. Present structure was started in 1883.