Summerfield Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Summerfield Methodist Church, out there in Gregg County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good long way. We're talkin' 1869.

That's when Summerfield Methodist Church was built, on land donated by a man named Parson B.W. Brown. And if that name sounds like somebody who left his mark on this part of Texas, well, you're readin' the room right, because Parson Brown was also largely responsible for the formation of Gregg County itself.

One man, one donated piece of land, and consequences that rippled out further than he probably imagined standing there in the post-war East Texas pines. The church was named after a church the Brown family had attended back in Alabama. They carried that name with them, the way people carry a hymn they can't quite let go of, and they planted it here.

Now here's the part that'll stop you cold if you think about it. That pioneer community, the one that grew up around this place, was called Summerfield. And of everything that community built, every structure, every gathering place, every mark it pressed into the landscape, this church is the only remaining namesake.

The only one. The community of Summerfield is gone in every other sense, but the church is still standing. Construction began on a new church wing in 1952, and by 1975 a new sanctuary, an education wing, and a parsonage had all been built on that original site.

The building changed, grew, spread its roots deeper. But here's what didn't move. The original bell.

It remains right out front of the present sanctuary, the same bell that would have called those first East Texas settlers in from the fields. In 1937, the church formed one of the first official Woman's Church Societies in the area. That's not a footnote.

That's a community organizing itself, finding its voice, deciding it had something to say. And through all of it, from the 1860s forward, this church has been, as the marker puts it, the anchor of the community since the mid-19th century. Some anchors rust.

Some get pulled up and forgotten. This one held.

What the marker says

SUMMERFIELD METHODIST CHURCH WAS BUILT IN 1869 ON LAND DONATED BY PARSON B.W. BROWN WHO WAS ALSO LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FORMATION OF GREGG COUNTY. NAMED AFTER A CHURCH THE BROWN FAMILY HAD ATTENDED IN ALABAMA, THE CHURCH STANDS AS THE ONLY REMAINING NAMESAKE OF THE PIONEER COMMUNITY KNOWN AS SUMMERFIELD. CONSTRUCTION BEGAN ON A NEW CHURCH WING IN 1952, AND A NEW CHURCH SANCTUARY, EDUCATION WING, AND PARSONAGE WERE BUILT ON THE ORIGINAL SITE BY 1975. THE ORIGINAL BELL REMAINS IN FRONT OF THE PRESENT SANCTUARY. THE CHURCH FORMED ONE OF THE FIRST OFFICIAL WOMAN'S CHURCH SOCIETIES IN THE AREA IN 1937 AND HAS BEEN THE ANCHOR OF THE COMMUNITY SINCE THE MID-19TH CENTURY.