Red Lick Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The Red Lick Methodist Church, out in Bowie County, has a story that starts the way the best Texas stories do: with oral tradition. Nobody wrote it down in some official ledger on day one.

It passed from mouth to mouth, generation to generation, and what those voices agree on is this: the Red Lick Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was founded in 1885. You hold onto that number. That's a long time for a congregation to keep showing up.

Now, the land where services have been held since the 1890s was donated by the Bob Bonner family. That's the kind of gift that shapes a community for more than a century, and this one did exactly that. In the early years, the building doing the work of a church also pulled double duty, or triple duty if you're countin': it served as a church, a school, and a lodge, all under one roof.

One building, three purposes, and probably more conversations per square foot than most places have ever managed. Inside that building, things were orderly in the way of the time. Women sat on one side, men on the other.

And when it came to baptism by immersion, well, there was a pond nearby that handled the occasion. Picture that: a East Texas morning, a congregation gathered at the water's edge, the same land the Bonner family had given over to something larger than themselves. The congregation carried on through the decades, and in 1968 the name changed to Red Lick United Methodist Church.

A new name, but the same ground, the same community, the same continuity of purpose. And that's what the marker wants you to know most of all: this church continues to play an important role in the community's religious life. Not past tense.

Present. Some things you found in 1885 are still worth finding today.

What the marker says

According to oral tradition, the Red Lick Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was founded in 1885. Church services have taken place at this site, upon land donated by the Bob Bonner family, since the 1890s. During the early years the group met in a combination church/school/lodge structure. Women and men sat on opposite sides of the building, and baptism by immersion was performed in a nearby pond. The group changed its name to Red Lick United Methodist Church in 1968. It continues to play an important role in the community's religious life. (1992)