Present sanctuary was completed and dedicated in 1917, with dedicatory sermon given by the Rev. Sam R. Hay. The present name was given after a national ecumenical accord was reached in1968.
Photo Courtesy Of the Van Alstyne Museum
Marker [023]
First United Methodist Church
(Van Alstyne)
| Outgrowth of Liberty class, formed 1847 for Bible study and worship, in log cabin of Jim Creager (1.25 mi. S.) by
the Rev. Joab Biggs of the Dallas Methodist circuit, and M. F. Cole. In1855, after a rainstorm that detained
quarterly conference delegates to listen to an all-night sermon, the Rev. Y. S. McKinney preached for three
weeks and had 60 conversions. The enlarged class moved to Mantua, where it built a frame chapel on the town
square and was renamed Mt. Zion Methodist Church. At founding of Van Alstyne on Houston and Texas Railroad
in 1873, Mt. Zion moved its building into town, to a site now in Van Alstyne Cemetery. By 1890 membership
exceeded 400. The congregation in 1893 moved again, erecting a larger building at Waco and Jefferson Streets,
and changing name to First Methodist Church. In this sanctuary in 1894 there was organized the First District
Epworth League of the Southern Methodist Church. Here in 1912 Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt gave an
address, and in 1917one of Texas' earliest Boy Scout troops was formed. Present sanctuary was completed and dedicated in 1917, with dedicatory sermon given by the Rev. Sam R. Hay. The present name was given after a national ecumenical accord was reached in1968.
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