Perry United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm happy to pass it along. Way out west of Perry, in Falls County, a congregation got its start in somebody's living room. The year was 1872, and the home belonged to a man named Theodore Reusse, also recorded as Rice, depending on who was doing the writing.

The man who brought those first believers together was a circuit rider, the Reverend F. Mumme, doing what circuit riders did, covering ground and planting faith wherever folks would open a door. Four charter members signed on at the start.

But the word spread, and before that first year was out, eleven more had joined them. Fifteen souls, gathered in a house west of Perry, and a church was born. Now, a house is a fine place to start, but a congregation with that kind of momentum eventually needs walls of its own.

It took a few years, but in 1884 they got to work on something that would make people stop and look twice. A Victorian Gothic Revival building, the kind of structure that says this community means to stay. The lumber they used was pine and cypress, and here's the part worth savoring: that wood was bought down in Houston and hauled all the way here by oxwagons.

Every plank, every beam, making that slow journey north under Texas sky. The building went up through 1884 and into 1885, and on February 7th of that year, it was dedicated. By the time the marker was recorded in 1972, thirty-seven pastors had served that congregation across one hundred years.

Thirty-seven different voices in that Gothic Revival building, each one carrying the work forward. Started in a living room, built with lumber that oxen hauled across the state, and still standing. That's Perry United Methodist Church.

What the marker says

Organized in 1872 west of Perry in home of Theodore Reusse (Rice) by a circuit rider, the Rev. F. Mumme. To 4 charter members, 11 others were added during 1872. This Victorian Gothic Revival building was erected 1884-85 of pine and cypress lumber bought in Houston and hauled here by oxwagons. It was dedicated Feb. 7, 1885. In 100 years, 37 pastors have served the congregation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972