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First Methodist Episcopal Church Denison, Texas  First Methodist E Church and Parsonage 1910 Postcard Probably on Woodard Street This
mention is of the First Methodist Episcopal Church on Woodard Street;
it was located right across the avenue from St. Luke's (where Bayless-Hall Insurance is). That church merged with Waples
Methodist Church in the 1930s ~ Brian Hander
Sunday Gazetteer (Denison, Texas) March 1, 1903 THE FIRST CHURCH IN DENISON The first church built in Denison was not the Presbyterian church as recently published in a paper. The first church was a Methodist structure on Woodard street, about where George Carver's coal office stands.  In 1875, "The Methodist Church had no regular preacher at the beginning but Rev. Sullivan Holman (of the firm of W.H. Shulze, shoe dealer)...occupied their pulpit until a regular preacher - Rev. A. Jamison - came. This society was organized and the building now owned by them (which had prior to that time been used as a Union chapel,) was and is the place of worship and the church has a deservedly strong hold on our people." (Early Times in Denison:"Churches". Denison Daily Cresset, Saturday, January 15, 1876, pg.4) The church was a small one-story structure, painted white. Milburn, the famous blind ex-chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, once lectured there. The first religious revival was held in this church. It might be justly termed "The little church around the corner." It used to be a social focus. At that time there were so few women in Denison they could nearly all be gathered in this little edifice. There used to be societies, oyster suppers, etc., and there once was a quilting party there. Everybody used to meet on a level in this little church, and now and then one got mixed up with strange company. There were a great many conversions, but as a general thing they did not "stick". Denison was a "wild and wooly town," the jumping-off place for all creation. It was pretty hard to be religious in those days. You could stand in the little church and hear the rasping fiddles in the dance hall not a block away. This was not, as the preacher would say, "a God fearing community." The little white church was burned, and the church people for a while worshiped in the hall on Main Street. Rev. M. A. Dougherty was the pioneer of Methodism in Denison. He was admirably equipped for the work. He was a man of persistent energy, and knew how to pass that hat around better than any preacher who has ever been in Denison. He did not appeal to any particular class. The saloon men and gamblers contributed liberally. The Methodist Episcopal church was the first built in Denison although by January of 1876 it was considered too small for its congregation and land had been purchased at a new location on which a new church building was to be erected. (Early Times in Denison:"Churches". Denison Daily Cresset, Saturday, January 15, 1876, pg.5) The M.E. Church, on West Woodard street, was erected by Rev. Dougherty, and he was its first pastor.  Aerial View, 500 block West Woodard Street, north side. This was church row: St. Luke's Episcopal Church barely visible at far right, First Methodist Church at right, and First Baptist Church at left. Detail of RPPC (post card), Photo by J. Bowers Photographic Co., London-Topeka. Collection of Mavis Anne Bryant. Rev. Dougherty was cut out for pioneer church work. He is at the present time in Waco. A number of churches in Texas were built by his missionary labors. The little church on Woodard street was the first religious starter in Denison. Many pleasant associations were connected with it. The hundreds who gathered there are gone, a great many are dead and those left are old and standing in "the shadow of the tomb and the ivy." The Denison News
The Denison Daily Herald FIRST METHODIST OWN CITY’S OLDEST CHURCH
STRUCTURE
Rev. Alexander Jamison of the Home Mission Work in Cincinnati came to
Denison
and on March 16, 1873, organized a Methodist Episcopal Church with
eight
charter members, as follows: W.L. Shepherd, J.B. Oliver, Grace Oliver,
William
O. Young, Sarah Young, A.B. Bowman, J.S. Baker and Mary Perkons. The town hall was
purchased, painted and
seated at a cost of $962. The
town
company donated lots 20 and 21 on the north side of Woodard street and
east of
Rusk avenue (on which the building stood) to the church. Soon after organization of
the church a
Sunday school was started with A.B. Bowman as superintendent and Mrs.
Alexander
Jamison, wife of the pastor, as assistant superintendent.  First Methodist Episcopal Church History Churches Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
