DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Smithfield Methodist Church in Tarrant County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good long ways. William and Mary Turner pulled up from Dallas County in 1856 and put down roots on a three-hundred-acre farm near this very spot.
And William, being the kind of man who apparently couldn't let his neighbors go without a place to gather, built split log benches right there at his home — something for folks to sit on while they studied and worshipped together. By the end of that same year, those neighbors had formed themselves into what they called the Willow Springs Class, a Methodist Society with a name as fitting as anything you'd find out on the Texas prairie. Then comes 1861, and the Rev.
S.D. Sansom is on the scene serving as local elder. The community itself took the name Zion around 1873, and the church followed suit, becoming Zion Methodist Church.
Now here's where the story picks up another layer. In 1887, two men — Eli Smith and J.C. Brownfield — gave land for a townsite, and that townsite was named Smithfield.
The church took note and rechristened itself Smithfield Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The congregation's first real sanctuary went up in 1912 on land donated by Eli and Sally Smith. That structure served its purpose, but by 1935 it was replaced with something more lasting — a masonry building, and the materials for it were donated by descendants of William and Mary Turner.
Those same families that started this whole thing, still showing up when it counted. The name changed again in 1939 to Smithfield Methodist Church, and by 1945 the congregation had grown enough to support its first full-time minister — which, if you've ever tried to build something from split log benches, tells you everything about how far they'd come. In 1968 the name shifted one final time to Smithfield United Methodist Church, and in 1974 the congregation erected a new sanctuary right here.
From a man's front porch and a few rough-hewn benches in 1856, to a standing sanctuary serving northeast Tarrant County more than a century later — that, friends, is a congregation that knew how to stay.
What the marker says
William and Mary Turner moved from Dallas County to a 300-acre farm near here in 1856. According to local tradition William soon built split log benches at his home for his neighbors' use as a site for study and worship. By year's end they had formed a Methodist Society called the Willow Springs Class. By 1861 the Rev. S.D. Sansom was serving as local elder. The community took the name Zion about 1873 and the church changed its name to Zion Methodist Church. In 1887, after Eli Smith and J.C. Brownfield gave land for a townsite named Smithfield, the church became Smithfield Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The congregation's first sanctuary, erected on land donated by Eli and Sally Smith in 1912, was replaced in 1935 with a structure built of masonry donated by descendants of William and Mary Turner. The congregation changed its name to Smithfield Methodist Church in 1939 and achieved sufficient membership by 1945 to retain its first full-time minister. The congregation, renamed Smithfield United Methodist Church in 1968, erected a new sanctuary here in 1974. The church continues to offer worship and outreach programs to the community and remains an important institution in northeast Tarrant County.