First Methodist Church of Bryan

The plaque names the circuit riders and the railroad's deed. The deed shows the terms. Lots 6 and 7 in Block 49 were conveyed on March 22, 1868 by railroad agents W. R. Baker and A. Groesbeck for one dollar to trustees L. J. Wilson, James Walker and Joseph Collins, and the deed was recorded on September 26, 1869. The subscription list for the first frame church included T. T. Smothers and Harvey Mitchell at $100 each. A revival led by George R. Stuart in 1901 added more than a hundred members.

What the plaque says

First Methodist Church of Bryan Among the circuit riders who preached to early Methodists in this area were The Rev. Robert Alexander, presiding elder of the district, and The Rev. H.V. Philpott, who conducted services in a hall above a saloon. The Rev. H.G. Horton organized this congregation in 1868 and soon raised $500 to build a church on this site, deeded by the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. A brick church, erected in 1902, burned in 1906 and was rebuilt in 1908. During the 1920s, an adjacent residence was bought and remodeled for classrooms and the fellowship hall. A new sanctuary was completed in 1951. (1976)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum — 5.3 mi
  The library of the forty-first president on the Texas A&M campus, opened in 1997, where George and Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin are buried in a family plot on the grounds.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 24 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Navasota — 26 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 26 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church, Bryan, Texas — steps away
• St. Joseph Catholic Church — steps away
• St. Joseph School — steps away
• Brazos County — steps away