DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about White Rock Chapel, out here in Dallas County. Now settle in, because this one's got roots that go all the way down to the creek bed — and a fight that took a full decade to win. The story of White Rock Chapel begins in a community called Upper White Rock, a Freedman's settlement — built by men and women who had been enslaved on the nearby Coit, Caruth, and Obier plantations.
After freedom came, they didn't scatter. They gathered. And when the time came to organize a church, they did it the way community always begins — around somebody's kitchen table.
In this case, the home of George Coit. That meeting set everything in motion. The founding members went out and purchased land beside White Rock Creek, right next to a small African American burial ground.
They did that in early 1884, and they put up a log building with their own hands. The Rev. Mr.
Burse became their first pastor, and he shepherded about twenty-eight families through the years — all the way until 1914. Now, building beside a creek is poetic. Building beside a flooding creek is something else entirely.
Frequent flooding was a problem for this congregation — and I do mean frequent. According to oral history, there were times the congregation spent days inside that building, just waiting for the floodwaters to go back where they came from. Days.
Inside the church. Watching the water. You want to talk about a test of faith, there it is.
But the creek wasn't done yet. In 1918, a deluge came after a service — and a family drowned. That was the moment everything changed.
Soon after, the congregation moved to higher ground. Just a few hundred feet to the west, but far enough. The land for that new site was donated by a man named S.
S. Noell — an Anglo who was, the marker tells us, a frequent visitor to White Rock Chapel. In gratitude, or in honor, the congregation renamed itself Christian Chapel, C.
M. E., after their pastor, C. C.
Christian. Then came 1960, and another turn. A church member donated land about a mile south, and most of the original congregation decided to relocate there.
The members who stayed behind — the ones who didn't go — they endured something hard: they lost their building to fire. But here's the thing about people who've already survived a flood that drowned their neighbors, who've already been patient enough to wait out rising water for days at a stretch. They don't quit easy.
Those remaining members came back to their name. White Rock Chapel Independent Methodist Church. They reclaimed it like it was always theirs — because it was.
And then, in the fall of 1969, a large corporation claimed ownership of the three acres known as the White Rock Union Graveyard. The very ground where this community had buried its dead. Area churches banded together and took the fight to court, securing a temporary restraining order.
But White Rock Chapel's trustees didn't stop there. They kept at it. They held the line in that legal battle for ten years — ten years — finally prevailing in 1979.
They protected the land where their church first met. By the end of the twentieth century, White Rock Chapel was serving a wide stretch of Dallas County — Dallas, Grand Prairie, Garland, Carrollton. A congregation born beside a flooding creek on land purchased by former slaves had grown to reach across an entire county.
That's not just survival. That's something that took more than a century to build — and more than one attempt to destroy it.
What the marker says
Formed in the Freedman's community of Upper White Rock (settled by former slaves from the nearby Coit, Caruth and Obier plantations), White Rock Chapel Methodist Church was organized after a meeting at the home of George Coit. Founding members purchased land on White Rock Creek beside a small African American burial ground in early 1884 and constructed a log building. The first pastor, the Rev. Mr. Burse, served about 28 families until 1914. Frequent flooding was a problem for the congregation. According to oral history, the congregation sometimes spent days inside the building waiting for floodwaters to recede. A 1918 deluge drowned a family after a service; soon after, the congregation moved to this site on higher ground only a few hundred feet to the west. It was donated by S. S. Noell, an Anglo who was a frequent visitor to White Rock Chapel. The congregation was renamed Christian Chapel, C. M. E., in honor of its pastor, C. C. Christian. In 1960, a church member donated more land about a mile south. Most of the original congregation decided to relocate. After enduring the loss of their building from fire, remaining members reclaimed their original name, calling themselves White Rock Chapel Independent Methodist Church. In the fall of 1969, a large corporation claimed ownership of the three acres known as the White Rock Union Graveyard. Area churches banded together to fight the claim in court, securing a temporary restraining order. White Rock Chapel trustees continued the legal battle to preserve the land on which their church first met, finally prevailing in 1979. By the end of the 20th century, the church served a wide area of Dallas County, including residents of the cities of Dallas, Grand Prairie, Garland and Carrollton. (2000)