DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. One of the very first settlements to take root in Comanche County — and friend, this one started with walls. John A.
McGuire founded the place in 1851, and the first public building wasn't a courthouse, wasn't a general store. It was a stockade. A tight ring of logs enclosing several cabins, built to hold people when the world outside turned dangerous.
They called it Double Pens, on account of its double walls — and inside those walls they kept emergency grain, water, and other food, ready for the moment settlers had to run for their lives during Indian raids. When the men rode out, the women and children didn't stay home alone. They slept inside Double Pens.
That's the kind of place this was. Not just a refuge from raids, mind you. Church services were held inside those same walls.
And in 1876, a school was organized right there too, with R. W. Welborne stepping in as the first teacher.
A stockade that doubled as a schoolhouse — Comanche County wasn't exactly easing into civilization. It was building it from scratch, log by log. By 1880, the Indian Creek Methodist Church was formally organized, with the Reverend H.
B. Henry as pastor. Land for a proper building was given by J.
M. McGuire — Mart McGuire, as folks knew him. Now this church, it became known for two things in particular.
First, its summer camp meetings. Every year, after the crops were cultivated and the hardest work of the season was behind them, the congregation would hold two solid weeks of meetings. Campers came in from a wide area, bringing chickens for eggs and meat and cows to keep the milk flowing.
You can almost picture it — a full-on community gathering, half revival, half county fair, all faith. The second thing that church was known for? The sheer number of preachers it produced.
Whatever was in that Comanche County air, it was calling people to the pulpit. In 1922, a new building was erected on that same ground. And the cemetery beside it — that went back to 1880, when the first burial was made.
The land for that cemetery had once belonged to R. C. Coker, and it was later owner J.
H. Watson who gave it to the church, in 1894. Services at Indian Creek Methodist Church continued all the way until 1958.
One of the first settlements in Comanche County — born behind double walls, and remembered long after the last service was held.
What the marker says
One of the first settlements in Comanche County; founded in 1851 by John A. McGuire. The first public building here was a stockade that enclosed several log cabins. Named "Double Pens" for its double walls, it was a storehouse for emergency supplies of grain, water and other food to be used by the settlers when they took refuge there during Indian raids. When the men were away, the women and children slept at Double Pens. Church services were also held inside the walls and a school was organized there in 1876. The first teacher was R. W. Welborne. The Indian Creek Methodist Church was formed in 1880 with the Rev. H. B. Henry as pastor. Land for a building was given by J. M. (Mart) McGuire. The church was noted for its summer camp meetings, held yearly for two weeks after cultivation of the crops was finished. The campers, from a wide area, would bring chickens for eggs and meat and cows to supply milk. The church was also known for the large number of preachers it produced. In 1922 the present building was erected. Services were discontinued in 1958. The first burial in the cemetery was made in 1880. The land, then property of R. C. Coker, was given to the church by later owner J. H. Watson in 1894. (1968)