Van Alstyne Public Library
Local History

Methodist Church Filled with History

In 1947, the Late Mrs. Callie Taylor Lane of Pilot Grove writes "The First Methodist Church at Pilot Grove was a vacant store which was bought and filled up with seats by the small congregation."  She continues, "There is no record available on the organization of the Methodist Church, but legend has it that Aunt Becky Clement and a Negro woman kept the church going during the Civil War.  

Aunt Becky....... "They were both plump, elderly women then and they always wore black dresses and white aprons to church, sitting in the first row and waving their palm leaf fans and nodding approval at the sermon.
"There is a story that Aunt Becky had the preacher home for dinner one Sunday, and to protect her white apron, she turned it around to the back and put on a red-checked gingham apron.  When it was time to go back for the evening service, she forgot the white apron in back and put on another white one over the red checked one.  Then she minced proudly off to church, all three aprons flashing in the breeze."

The church pictured above was built in 1905 by members of the congregation and used until the 1930s.  It was located on the southwest corner of FM121 and Pilot Grove Road, dangerously close to the highway.  A historical marker telling of the early history of Pilot Grove and the Lee-Peacock feud was placed beside the Methodist Church in 1966 by the Texas Historical Survey Committee.  (The Whitewright Sun, Thursday, February 19, 1970, pg.1)

In 1973, Mrs. Angus Wynne of Dallas spotted the church while driving through the country.  After three years of negotiations with the Kaiser family of Pilot Grove, the church was moved to Old City Park in Dallas and restored.  Although the original hand-hewn pews were...

Dallas Morning News
August 19, 1976
Park Destination
Old Church Due Midnight Ride
by Doug Domeier

Bogged down early Wednesday by an entanglement with trees here, the move of a 75-year-old church from Pilot Grove, Grayson County, 55 miles to Old City Park here, will resume at midnight Wednesday.

The 34-by-34-foot church was outside of Dallas city limits Tuesday afternoon and began moving into the Dallas area at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, going south on Preston Road.  The structure ran into branches overhanging the road around 3 a.m.

"We didn't really free it until 2-1/2 hours later," said R.N. LaBranche, an associate of Earle L. Jones & Associates, construction consultants' firm which is supervising the move.

Since the church is too wide to be moved through the city during daytime traffic, the decision was made to move it to a parking lot near Turtle Creek Village on Oak Lawn and Blackburn, leaving it there during the day Wednesday, LaBranche said.

Crews from the city traffic department, Dallas Power & Light and Southwestern Bell Telephone will accompany the movers to dismantle traffic lights temporarily or raise or alter power and phone lines.

The church will be the 20th historical structure to be moved to Old City Park and restored there by the Dallas County Heritage Society.

LaBranhce said there was minor damage to two trees on Preston and no significant damage to the church.
Movers will take the church from Oak Lawn to Cedar Springs, then to Bowen, right on Cole to McKinney, to Griffin over R.L.Thornton Freeway and onto St. Paul, which runs by Old City Park.

Approximately 18 traffic lights were temporarily dismantled early Wednesday to make way for the church, which originally stood in Pilot Grove and was last used in 1938.

Arrival at Old City Park is expected to be around sunrise Thursday.

Dallas Morning News
August 18, 1976
Grayson County church moved to new home at Old City Park.
by Dick Domeier

An unpretentious white wood church that stood in Grayson County for 75 years became a hulking traffic-stopper Tuesday as it was moved across streets and highways to a new home at Old City Park here.

Measuring 34 by 34 feet, the 1-story church drew stares and a few curses from motorists as it was driven on a flatbed truck from Pilot Grove, Grayson County, through McKinney to Dallas.

Movers parked the facility at Frankford Road and Highway 289 near Renner late Tuesday afternoon, then waited until midnight to travel into Dallas on Preston Road (289).

With traffic at a minimum, the move through the city nevertheless was to be made with teams from the city traffic department, Dallas Power & Light and Southwestern Bell Telephone raising power and phone lines and removing traffic lights temporarily.

Moving slowly down Preston to Cedar Springs, then to Cole and McKinney and through Downtown Dallas, the church was scheduled to arrive at Old City Park by sunrise Wednesday.

It will be restored there as the 20th structure moved to the park and refurbished by the Dallas County Heritage Society.
The short steeple and two gables followed on another truck. A driver said the truck maintained speeds ranging up to 40 miles an hour on the journey over country roads.

The paint is dirty and the windows smashed.  Two front doors cluster at one corner.  Three sides have three windows, the fourth two windows.

"We first saw this church about four years ago and have had our eye on it since," said Mrs. Carolyn Watson, Old City Park development coordinator.

The Methodist Church will serve as an example of frame prairie architecture around the turn of the century.  The original pews, holding approximately 125 people, will be reinstalled.  The church was last used in 1938.

State traffic laws do not permit nighttime moving of a load as large as the church on state roads, and city traffic laws do not permit daytime moving on city roads, pointed out R.N.LaBranche, an associate of Earle L. Jones & Associates, construction consultants' firm which supervised the move.

So the balance worked out well for the church. It began its journey Tuesday about 9 a.m. and had arrived near Dallas city limits unscathed by about 6:30 p.m.