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Methodist Episcopal Church, South Denison, Texas  The Meridional Abbeville, Louisiana July 20, 1901  Denison, TX Tornado, July 1901Posted February 26th, 2009 by Junehttp://www3.gendisasters.com/texas/11555/denison-tx-tornado-jul-1901 They Prayed For A Rain And Got a Small-Sized Tornado at Denison, Texas. The Crops Were Saved, but the Church Destroyed. (Special to the Picayune.) Denison, Tex., July 14. - A number of local ministers today prayed for rain to break the long drought, which has prevailed for months, had burned up the corn and the fruit and brought sickness. This afternoon a storm struck the city and rain fell for two hours. It was a heavy downpour, which effectually disposed of the drought. The storm was accompanied by a wind of almost tornado force. Reports indicate that the rain is general in this vicinity. It has come just in the nick of time to save the cotton crop. It will benefit the fruit crop and furnish stock water, which has entirely failed, causing much distress. It will also benefit lowland cotton. The Southern Methodist Episcopal church recently erected at a cost of $15,000, was partially demolished, a number of small houses in the northern portion of the city were blown over and wrecked. The minister of this church had offered fervent prayer for the rain. Shade trees and window glasses all over the city were demolished. Times Picayune New Orleans, LA 15 July 1901 Brian Hander wrote: This is great! I'm almost 100% positive this article is discussing Waples UMC. When the church was originally constructed it was known as The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It wasn't renamed until a bishop visited the church and recommended the name be changed to honor E. B. Waples for his generous donation to help construct the church. So it's very possible that in 1901 the church was still more commonly known as the M.E.C. South rather than by its new name. When I was doing research for the Waples UMC historical marker I came across some notes in our archives that claimed the church had suffered severe damage from tornado-like weather. Apparently, high winds toppled the brick steeple into the middle of the sanctuary. The damage was bad, but the notes said not a single stained-glass window pane was broken, quite a feat when the rest of the sanctuary was pretty well destroyed! However, the note never said a date of the storm, it only said that it was in the early 1900s. This makes me believe this article is talking about the same damage that the note discussed. It's a great find!  ca 1899 Methodist Episcopal Church South History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |