Site of Bruceville Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place, so take it for what it is, the record as it stands. Now, before there was a Bruceville, before there was even a railroad cutting through these McLennan County flatlands, there was a cedar bridge. A pioneer settler by the name of E.T.

Cox built that bridge, and near it, just before the Civil War came rolling in, a congregation gathered under the name Cedar Bridge Methodist Church. They met in a sanctuary close to that bridge, holding services while the rest of the country was fixing to tear itself apart. Local tradition says members of Cedar Bridge Methodist took that same faithful energy and organized a Methodist church over in a nearby settlement called Mastersville, and they did it in 1863, right in the middle of the war.

That Mastersville Methodist Church, tradition holds, is the parent church of what would eventually become Bruceville Methodist. The earliest actual record anyone has found of Mastersville Methodist is a notice from 1865, naming a Reverend J.L. Crabb as the selected pastor.

That's where the paper trail begins. Now, for a while, Mastersville carried on just fine. But then came 1881, and with it the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad, extending its track right through this part of the county.

And when a railroad comes through, well, people follow the iron. Many of Mastersville's citizens and businesses picked up and moved to be near that railroad. The town that grew up around it needed a name, and it got one in 1887 when a post office was granted.

They called it Bruceville, named for a Dr. Lucien N. Bruce, on whose land the railroad depot was built.

The congregation moved with the town, as congregations tend to do. Sometime in the 1880s, the first Bruceville Methodist Church sanctuary went up. Then in 1895, a new building was erected right here, at this very site, and that building served the people of Bruceville Methodist for decades upon decades.

Until 1983. That year, Bruceville Methodist Church merged with the nearby Eddy Methodist Church. And the building that had stood here since 1895, the one that held all those years of sermons and music and grief and celebration, was later razed.

From a cedar bridge to a railroad town to an empty lot, that congregation kept finding a way to carry on. The building is gone. But the marker tells you it was here.

What the marker says

According to local tradition this congregation traces its beginning to the Cedar Bridge Methodist Church, which held services just prior to the Civil War in a sanctuary near a cedar bridge constructed by pioneer settler E.T. Cox. Members of Cedar Bridge Methodist reportedly organized a Methodist church in nearby Mastersville in 1863. Local tradition claims the 1863 Mastersville Methodist Church is the parent church of Bruceville Methodist Church. The earliest record of Mastersville Methodist is an 1865 notice of Rev. J.L. Crabb's selection as pastor. Soon after the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad extended its track through here in 1881 many of Mastersville's citizens and businesses moved to be near railroad. The town which developed was officially named Bruceville with the granting of a post office in 1887. It was named for Dr. Lucien N. Bruce, on whose land the railroad depot was built. The first Bruceville Methodist Church sanctuary was built sometime during the 1880s. A new church building, erected at this site in 1895, served the congregation until 1983 when Bruceville Methodist Church merged with the nearby Eddy Methodist Church. The Bruceville Methodist Church building was later razed.