St. John's Methodist Church

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker, so here's how that story goes. Out in Jones County, there stands a church with a history worth pulling over for. St.

John's Methodist Church. The congregation got its start back in 1900, meeting in a place called Sledge Hall, under the watch of a Reverend S. Gay.

That's your beginning, right there. A group of faithful folks, a borrowed hall, and somebody willing to lead. Ten years later, in 1910, during the pastorate of Dr.

Robert Goodrich, they built the church you can still see today. And when they built it, they did not build it small. That tower stretches a hundred feet into the Jones County sky.

One hundred feet. And for a good long while, that made St. John's the tallest church anywhere between Dallas and El Paso.

Now, friend, that is a lot of Texas sky to be king of. The church also served the community of Old Stamford College, which you may know today as McMurry. It has been a constant through changes of name and changes of time.

By 1964, thirty-three different pastors had climbed into that pulpit and carried the work forward. Thirty-three. That is a lot of voices echoing up through a hundred-foot tower.

Some congregations get started and fade away. This one found a hall, then built a tower, and kept going.

What the marker says

Built 1910 in pastorate of Dr. Robert Goodrich, for congregation founded 1900 in Sledge Hall, under Rev. S. Gay. With 100' tower, long the tallest church between Dallas and El Paso. Served community of Old Stamford College (now McMurry). Has had 33 pastors up to 1964. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1964.