Bovina United Methodist Church

The congregation grew with a town that kept its ranch heritage on its main street. As land sales increased, the South and West Land Company made its headquarters at Bovina, and the town reached about 200 people by 1915. After incorporation in 1948 it gained a volunteer fire department, and a weekly paper, the Bovina Blade, began in 1955; ambulance service followed in the 1960s, and a medical clinic opened in 1966 with funds from the Sears Foundation. Bovina's population rose from 1,029 in 1960 to 1,874 in 2000, and a longhorn bull statue recalls the Bull Town years.

What the plaque says

Bovina United Methodist Church The town of Bovina was organized in the early 20th century in the heart of the "XIT" Ranch on the Pecos Valley Railway. Soon after its establishment, a Methodist church was founded with nine charter members. The Rev. V. H. Trammell, who served as pastor from 1905 until 1908, helped organize the congregation and held services one Sunday a month. Members of the Bovina Methodist Church first met in a one-room schoolhouse. In 1910, during the pastorate of the Rev. J. A. Sweeney (d. 1919), the congregation constructed its first sanctuary across the street from this site. Much of the money raised to help build the structure came from cowboys on area ranches. The church hired its first full-time pastor during the 1940s. As the oldest Methodist congregation in Parmer County, Bovina Methodist Church has a long history of providing service and leadership to the community and the surrounding farming and ranching area. With its emphasis on Christian education, youth ministry, and music, the congregation continues to uphold the ideals and traditions of its founders. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blackwater Draw — 30 mi
  The site between Clovis and Portales that gave the Clovis culture its name, found by a nineteen-year-old in 1929 and dug for decades inside a working gravel pit.

More markers nearby

• Bovina — 0.4 mi
• Site of Parmerton — 6.6 mi
• Site of First Church in City of Friona — 13 mi
• Parmer County — 13 mi