First Methodist Church of Fredericksburg

Texas Methodism was older than Fredericksburg and already divided when the mission began. William Stevenson, the first Protestant minister to preach in Texas, spoke at Pecan Point in the fall of 1815. In 1839 reformers unhappy with the bishops' power and the lack of lay representation left to form the Methodist Protestant Church, which organized a Texas Conference in 1848 but had only 1,364 Texas members by 1860. The deeper split came over slavery at the 1844 General Conference. In 1845 Texas Methodists joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and northern Methodists could not organize in Texas until 1853.

What the plaque says

First Methodist Church of Fredericksburg Oldest Methodist church in the Hill Country, founded 1849 as a German mission by the Rev. Eduard Schneider. The charter members: Melchior and Rosine Bauer, Johann and Margaretha Durst, Friedrich and Sophie Ellebracht, Ernst and Dorothea Houy, Ferdinand and Maria Kneese, Ludwig Kneese, Heinrich and Catharine Steihl, Jacob and Catharine Treibs, Fritz and Fredericka (Mary) Winkel. In 1855, during pastorate of the Rev. C. A. Grote, a 40 x 60-foot native stone church was built. It still serves after 1912-14, 1923, and 1948-49 remodelings. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Vereins Kirche and Main Street — 0.3 mi
  The octagonal Society Church on Fredericksburg's market square, rebuilt in stone in the 1930s, beside a main street laid out like a Rhine village.
• National Museum of the Pacific War — 0.7 mi
  A museum of the war in the Pacific in Chester Nimitz's hometown, dedicated at his request to the two million who served with him, with a garden given by Japan.
• Fort Martin Scott — 2.7 mi
  An army post of 1848 on Barons Creek beside the German town, where soldiers kept the peace of a Comanche trade and paid the merchants in hard cash.
• Luckenbach — 9.9 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.

More markers nearby

• Sunday Houses — steps away
• Dambach-Besier Home — steps away
• Gun Cap Factory — steps away
• Gillespie County — 0.3 mi