Shepherd Methodist Church

Duane's take

Well, here's how the marker tells it, and I'm just the voice passing it along. Back in 1882, in a town that railroad backers had gone and founded, a congregation came together and organized what would become the Shepherd Methodist Church. The town itself carried the name of a landowner and banker by the name of B.

A. Shepherd, and that name stuck to the place the way names do out here in Texas. Now, the land for the church didn't come from just anybody.

It was given by Paul Bremond, a rail magnate, which tells you something about how tightly wound together the railroad world and the community world were in those early days. They built a Greek Revival building on that site, and here's the part worth savoring: it was the first church erected in Shepherd. The first one.

And because it was the first, and because a new town has more need than any one denomination can fill, the congregation shared that building in the early years with other denominations. One roof, many voices lifting up together. There's something to that, if you think about it long enough on a lonesome stretch of highway.

A rail magnate gave the ground, a banker's name hung over the town, and the people who showed up filled that Greek Revival building with something no railroad could carry and no ledger could measure.

What the marker says

Organized in 1882 in town founded by railroad backers and named for landowner-banker B. A. Shepherd. site for church was given by Paul Bremond, rail magnate. Greek revival building (first church erected in Shepherd) was shared in early years with other denominations. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970