Ruby Ruth Fuller Building

Duane's take

The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice that carries it down the road. Now, Port Arthur, Texas, 1915. Picture a church rising up out of the Gulf Coast air — two asymmetrical towers flanking a wide staircase, stylized crenellations along the parapets like something transplanted straight from a medieval castle, arched entryways, opalescent stained glass catching whatever light the Southeast Texas sky cared to offer that day.

Gothic influences. Tudor influences. The whole thing built in brick with cast stone detailing.

It was not a modest undertaking. It was a statement. This was the new home of First United Methodist Church — a congregation that had organized back in 1897, which means by the time they broke ground on this building, they'd been gathering for nearly two decades.

They were ready to put down something permanent. The design came from C. W.

Ward, and a church member by the name of Warren McDaniel served as the contractor. So this wasn't just a building going up in Port Arthur — it was the congregation building it with their own hands, practically speaking. Here's the part that'll make you stop and think.

The church was built on property belonging to Port Arthur College — what you'd know today as Lamar State College-Port Arthur. And there was a special agreement baked right into the deal: the structure would be subject to use by the college any time it was not being used for religious purposes. Now that is forward thinking.

That is two institutions looking at each other and saying, we are not in competition — we are in community. For decades, that arrangement held. The congregation worshipped.

The college used the space when it was available. And somewhere in all those years, a woman named Ruby Ruth Fuller was quietly doing something extraordinary. She taught Sunday School for forty-two of the fifty-five years she was a member of First United Methodist Church.

Forty-two years of showing up, week after week, for the same congregation in the same building. She is, according to the record, the only person in the history of that church ever to be named teacher emeritus. The only one.

In 1976, First United Methodist Church merged with St. Mark's Methodist Church and moved on to another location. And when they left, they didn't just walk away from that building with its towers and its stained glass and its dramatic piano nobile — that raised entry where you climb the wide staircase before you even reach the door.

They deeded it to the college. That agreement from 1915 had been pointing toward this moment all along. Two years later, in 1978, the structure was officially dedicated as the Ruby Ruth Fuller Educational Building.

A woman who spent forty-two years teaching in that church now has her name on the door. The Texas Historical Commission placed its marker here in 2009, and the Fuller Educational Building is still doing its work — classes, educational events, the business of learning — right there at Lamar State College-Port Arthur. A congregation organized in 1897, a building raised in 1915, a deal struck with a neighbor institution, and one woman who showed up for forty-two years.

Sometimes foresight doesn't look like vision. Sometimes it just looks like showing up — and making sure the door stays open long after you're gone.

What the marker says

This building was constructed in 1915 as the new home of Port Arthur's First United Methodist Church, which had organized in 1897. The building was designed by C.W. Ward, and church member Warren McDaniel served as the contractor. A special agreement allowing the church to be built on property belonging to Port Arthur College (now Lamar State College-Port Arthur) provided that the structure would be subject to use by the college any time that it was not used for religious purposes. When First United Methodist Church merged with St. Mark's Methodist Church and moved to another location in 1976, the building was deeded to the college. The structure was officially dedicated as the Ruby Ruth Fuller Educational Building in 1978. Mrs. Fuller taught Sunday School for 42 of the 55 years that she was a member of First United Methodist Church, and is the only person in the history of the church to be named teacher emeritus. The building's architecture manifests the influences of several styles, including Gothic and Tudor. Dominant features include a brick facade with cast stone detailing, stylized crenellations along the parapets of two asymmetrical towers, arched entryways and windows, and opalescent stained glass. The towers flank a wide staircase leading to a dramatic piano nobile, or raised entry. The Fuller Educational Building continues to serve Lamar State College-Port Arthur as a location for classes and related educational events. The structure serves as a reminder of the concern and foresight of the people of the First United Methodist Church for the future of the college and the greater community of Port Arthur and the surrounding area. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2009