Swedish Central Methodist Church

Duane's take

The way I hear it, this one comes straight off the official marker, and it's a story worth telling right. Gather in close. Here's the Swedish Central Methodist Church of Travis County, Texas.

In 1873, the Rev. Carl Charnquist organized the Swedish Methodist Church, and that congregation put up a sanctuary at Red River and 15th Street. Now that's a beginning, and beginnings have a way of not being the whole story.

Years passed, and under the leadership of the Rev. O. E.

Olander, the congregation packed up and moved to a new site in 1898. What they found waiting for them there were the buildings of a disbanded Central Methodist Church. Think about that for a moment.

One fellowship folds, and another steps through the door. The congregation took something from that meeting place. They added the word Central to their name, becoming the Swedish Central Methodist Church.

And then, somewhere along the way, they let go of Swedish too, the name quietly evolving as the years moved on. By then they were sitting on a piece of ground that put them directly across from the Capitol grounds, at Colorado and 13th Street. That is prime Austin real estate, friends, right in the shadow of the statehouse.

But Austin had plans of its own. In 1956, the church property was sold for the expansion of state offices. The congregation didn't dissolve.

They renamed themselves Memorial Methodist Church, and they moved on out to northeast Austin. One church, one long journey, from Red River and 15th, to Colorado and 13th, and then rolling northeast into the city that had grown up all around them. The Capitol kept expanding.

The congregation kept going. Some stories just refuse to sit still.

What the marker says

Organized in 1873 by the Rev. Carl Charnquist, the Swedish Methodist Church built a sanctuary at Red River and 15th street. Led by the Rev. O.E. Olander, the congregation moved to this site in 1898 and occupied buildings of disbanded Central Methodist Church. The fellowship added 'Central' to its name and later dropped 'Swedish'. Church property, then across from the Capitol grounds at Colorado and 13th street, was sold in 1956 for expansion of state offices. Renamed Memorial Methodist Church, the historic congregation moved to northeast Austin. (1975)