Christoval United Methodist Church

Methodist women in Texas had been organizing since the 1880s, first to improve parsonages for ministers' families and to start mission work among ethnic groups, then, in the 1890s, to reach overseas. Their projects included Wesley houses in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, women's dormitories at the state universities in Austin and Denton, Holding Institute, a school for Mexican children in Laredo, and a girls' home in Dallas. Women were first elected delegates to annual conferences in 1919 and to general conferences in 1922, just before this congregation's records begin in 1923.

What the plaque says

Christoval United Methodist Church According to local history, Christoval Methodists, Baptists, and Cumberland Presbyterians assembled for worship services in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church building before 1910. Circuit riders from the three denominations preached on alternate Sundays. Although Baptists built their own structure in 1910, area Methodists continued to worship with Cumberland Presbyterians for many years. The records of the Christoval Methodist congregation date from 1923. In 1926, with the Rev. J. E. Young as pastor, the Methodists erected and occupied a red brick structure at the corner of Second and McKee streets. Fundraising projects at several Fourth of July celebrations helped to defray the cost of the building loan. In early years church women organized the Women's Missionary Society. Their first major project was to raise money for the Methodist Orphans' Home. A Men's Nondenominational Sunday School class was established in 1951. A parsonage was built in 1947 at a cost of $1,200; an educational building was erected in 1956. Further additions and renovations were made as needed, including the construction of three classrooms given in memory of Clarice Atkins McMillan in 1983. Former pastors and longtime members were honored at a church homecoming in 1978 and a 75th anniversary celebration in 1998. With continuing activities of worship and community service including an annual barbecue hosted by the Men's Nondenominational Sunday School class, the Christoval United Methodist Church carries on in the traditions of its founders. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Concho River Walk — 18 mi
  Four miles of lit trails along the North Concho through downtown San Angelo, rebuilt after voters taxed themselves in 2004, with gardens, sculpture, a river stage and stocked trout.
• Fort Concho National Historic Landmark — 18 mi
  The stone post at the forks of the Concho, headquarters of the Tenth Cavalry from 1875 to 1882, saved by a woman with a museum and now a city-run landmark of 23 original buildings.
• San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — 19 mi
  A free art museum on the Concho beside Fort Concho, founded in the fort's 1868 quartermaster building and known nationally for its biennial ceramics competition.
• San Angelo State Park — 19 mi
  A 7,677-acre park around O.C. Fisher Reservoir on the edge of San Angelo, where four Texas landscapes meet and the state's official longhorn herd grazes beside a bison paddock.

More markers nearby

• Christoval — steps away
• Christoval Baptist Church — 0.3 mi
• Knickerbocker — 9.1 mi
• Knickerbocker Schools — 9.2 mi