DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. St. Paul United Methodist Church in Galveston — this is one of those stories that starts before the beginning, winds through a split in the congregation, survives one of the deadliest storms in American history, and comes out the other side still standing.
Let's take it from the top. The church's roots reach back to the late 1860s, and to understand how it came to be, you've got to understand where it came from. Two earlier Methodist congregations in Galveston feed into this story.
One of them was Ryland Chapel, and out of Ryland Chapel grew another congregation called Reedy Chapel Methodist Church. Now, here's where things get interesting. When the Reedy Chapel membership voted to join the African Methodist Episcopal denomination, not everyone went along with that decision.
A group of those Methodists broke away, and those charter members became the founding heart of St. Paul Church. The Reverend Samuel Osborn stepped in as the first pastor of this new congregation, and they built themselves a sanctuary on the eastern end of the island — on Avenue H, between 8th and 9th streets.
The church grew. The congregation grew. A larger building was erected to serve all those new souls filling the pews.
And then came 1900. If you know anything about Galveston, you know what 1900 means. The storm.
That new, larger building — destroyed. Gone. Now, a lesser congregation might have scattered.
But under the leadership of the Reverend Frank Gary, these folks did something that says everything about who they were. They acquired property at a new site and built a new sanctuary, and they did it by 1902. Two years.
That is not a congregation givin' up. That church has stood at that site ever since, serving generation after generation of Galveston families. And the legacy didn't stop with the congregation itself — St.
Paul Methodist Church is known locally as the Mother Church of Galveston's Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church. And walking through the doors today, you'd still find descendants of some of the original founding families among the membership. The names may have changed with the generations, but the roots hold.
They always held.
What the marker says
Founded in the late 1860s, St. Paul Methodist Church can trace its history through two earlier Methodist congregations in Galveston. Charter members of St. Paul Church included Methodists from the Reedy Chapel Methodist Church (originally part of the Ryland Chapel congregation), who broke away when that membership elected to join the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. The Rev. Samuel Osborn served as first pastor of the new church. A sanctuary was built on the eastern end of the island on Avenue H between 8th and 9th streets. A larger building was later erected to serve the growing congregation, but was destroyed in the 1900 storm. Under the leadership of the Rev. Frank Gary, the congregation acquired property at this site and built a new sanctuary in 1902. The church has continued to thrive here, serving many generations of Galveston families. It is known locally as the "Mother Church" of Galveston's Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church. St. Paul Methodist Church counts among its members descendants of some of its founding families. (1990)