Thomas Chapel United Methodist Church

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Thomas Chapel United Methodist Church. Now, Willis, Texas has a founding date, a moment when the community came to be. But this congregation?

It was already there. Organized in 1867 as the Thomas Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, it pre-dates the founding of the community itself. Let that settle in for a second.

The church didn't grow up around the town. The town grew up around the church. Before there were proper walls, before there was a building worth pointing to, these people were gathering.

They held worship services in log buildings, in frame buildings, and out under brush arbors, open to the sky and whatever weather Texas saw fit to send. That is not a congregation that gave up easy. Decades passed.

The membership held. And then, in 1899, during the pastorate of the Reverend Edward Lee, they completed the building that still stands today. Gothic Revival style, the marker calls it, a style commonly used in church buildings.

But knowing that doesn't make it any less striking when you pull up and look at it. There is a large Gothic window on the front façade, smaller Gothic windows above the entrance, and a square bell tower rising up to meet the sky. More than a hundred years of community life and spiritual life have passed through those doors.

Started before the town existed. Still standing long after most folks stopped asking questions about what came first. That is the kind of staying power a brush arbor congregation earns.

What the marker says

Organized in 1867 as the Thomas Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, this congregation is the oldest in Willis and pre-dates the founding of the community. Worship services were held in log and frame buildings and brush arbors before this building was completed in 1899 during the pastorate of the Rev. Edward Lee. Elements of the Gothic Revival style, a style commonly used in church buildings, include the large Gothic window on the front façade, smaller Gothic windows above the entrance, and the square bell tower. It has been a center of community and spiritual life for more than 100 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2001