Shamrock Methodist Church

Duane's take

The official marker tells this story, and I'm gonna give it to you the way it deserves to be told. Now, out here on the Texas Panhandle, a church doesn't just appear. It gets built — and rebuilt, and rebuilt again — by people stubborn enough to keep showing up.

This is the story of the Shamrock Methodist Church, and it starts the way a lot of good Texas stories do: with a long ride and a man on a mission. Methodist ministers had been making their way out to this stretch of Wheeler County since 1881. That's twenty years of visiting before anybody put down anything permanent.

Twenty years of somebody saddling up and coming out to check on the folks scattered across this wide country. Then, on June 17, 1901, a circuit rider named W. L.

Harris rode in from Cataline Mission — forty miles north, if you're keeping track — and he organized the first local church right there in a native walnut grove belonging to a Mrs. Mary Ruth Jones, three miles north of where you might be standing right now. Seventeen charter members signed on.

Families by the names of Gid Bell, G. J. Duncan, M.

V. Harvey, Mrs. Jones herself — and also John B.

Harvey, Dan Lehman, and Lillie Jones Trostle. Seventeen people in a walnut grove. That's your foundation.

For a while, services moved from home to home, neighbor to neighbor, the congregation carrying their faith like furniture from one living room to the next. Then on February 1, 1903, they graduated to the Shamrock schoolhouse, which was at least a roof nobody had to move. By 1906, they had their first real church building, and a missionary society to go along with it.

Now here's where the story gets its first gut punch. 1907. A tornado came through and destroyed that structure. Just — gone.

You build something with your hands and your hope, and the sky takes it. But these were Panhandle people. The Rev.

T. B. Hilburn started planning a second building before the dust even settled, and the Rev.

W. Y. Switzer saw it built in 1908, with A.

J. Austin swinging the hammer as contractor. A third church went up in 1929 under the Rev.

C. W. Foote.

And then, the sanctuary standing today was completed in 1965 under the Rev. C. Melton.

Four buildings. One tornado. Decades of families — the A.

J. Austins, the T. E.

Burkhalters, the Frank Exums, the S. W. Norwoods, the W.

B. Smiths, the D. F.

Spuills, the E. L. Woodleys, and Mrs.

A. N. Holmes among the early ones — all of them keeping this thing alive.

Pastors came and went: P. G. Huffman, W.

M. Pope, J. P.

Patterson, M. S. Leveridge, Cal C.

Wright, Ed R. Wallace, W. E.

Hamilton, R. N. Huckabee, C.

E. Jameson, R. A.

Stewart, Lance Webb, A. C. Haynes, M.

B. Norwood, H. H.

Bratcher, S. M. Dunnam, Frank Beauchamp, Jim Sharp, Lyman Paul Wood, Oscar Bruce, and Tommie Beck.

The church even revised its own name — once in 1939, and again in 1968. A congregation that'll rebuild after a tornado will think nothing of updating its own name. What started as seventeen people in a walnut grove grew into something that outlasted the storm, outlasted the years, and is still standing as of this marker in 1972.

Out here, that's not just a church. That's a testament.

What the marker says

Visits of Methodist ministers to this area began in 1881. On June 17, 1901, circuit rider W. L. Harris, from Cataline Mission (40 miles north), organized this first local church in native walnut grove of Mrs. Mary Ruth Jones (3 miles north). Charter members (17) included families of Gid Bell, G. J. Duncan, M. V. Harvey, Mrs. Jones; also, John B. Harvey, Dan Lehman, Lillie Jones Trostle. On February 1, 1903, services were moved from homes of members to Shamrock schoolhouse. Other early church families: The A. J. Austins, T. E. Burkhalters, Frank Exums, S. W. Norwoods, W. B. Smiths, D. F. Spuills, E. L. Woodleys, and Mrs. A. N. Holmes. First church building was erected and missionary society founded 1906. Tornado destroyed the structure in 1907; a second was planned by the Rev. T. B. Hilburn, built under the Rev. W. Y. Switzer, 1908, with A. J. Austin as contractor. Third church was built in 1929 under the Rev. C. W. Foote; present sanctuary was completed in 1965 under the Rev. C. Melton. Other pastors: P. G. Huffman, W. M. Pope, J. P. Patterson, M. S. Leveridge, Cal C. Wright, Ed R. Wallace, W. E. Hamilton, R. N. Huckabee, C. E. Jameson, R. A. Stewart, Lance Webb, A. C. Haynes, M. B. Norwood, H. H. Bratcher, S. M. Dunnam, Frank Beauchamp, Jim Sharp, Lyman Paul Wood, Oscar Bruce and Tommie Beck. Church name was revised 1939 and 1968. (1972)