First Methodist Church of Plano

The Methodists moved to Plano in 1874, and the Handbook of Texas describes what they joined. The town was platted and incorporated in 1873, a year after the Houston and Texas Central arrived. In 1881 a fire destroyed fifty-two buildings and briefly made Plano a tent city. In 1888 the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas crossed the older line. By 1890 Plano had a population of 1,200, two railroads, three schools, two newspapers, two steam gristmill-cotton gins and six churches, five White and one Black.

What the plaque says

First Methodist Church of Plano According to oral history sources, this congregation traces its history to 1846 or 1847, when a group of thirteen people met together in the home of Peters' colonists Joseph and Elizabeth Russell to organize a Methodist church. The group was assisted by James A. Smith, a local preacher living near Dallas. They continued to meet at the Russell home until the 1850s, when they moved to a schoolhouse ion upper Spring Creek northwest of the original Plano townsite. Plano was incorporated in 1873, one year after the Houston & Texas Central Railroad built a line through the area. The Methodists moved to the new town in 1874. The congregation became a full station of the Methodist Church in 1888, with the Rev. D.J. Martin as first full-time pastor. They bought land at present 16th and K Streets in 1894 and completed a new building in 1895. It served the members until 1968 when a larger facility was built at this site. Throughout its history, the First Methodist Church of Plano has served the community with a variety of worship, educational, and outreach programs. It maintains a strong record of support to both domestic and foreign missionary endeavors. (1992) supplemental plate: In 2002 the First United Methodist Church moved to a new location at 3160 East Spring Creek Parkway for more visibility and to accommodate congregational growth.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 8.4 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 15 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Fair Park — 19 mi
  The State Fair of Texas grounds since 1886, where the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition left one of the country's greatest concentrations of Art Deco exposition buildings.
• African American Museum, Dallas — 19 mi
  Founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a free Fair Park museum holding the Sepia photograph archive, African art and A. Maceo Smith's papers, and the story of the Hall of Negro Life.

More markers nearby

• Muncey Massacre — 0.5 mi
• Plano Mutual Cemetery — 1.7 mi
• First Baptist Church of Plano — 2.4 mi
• First Christian Church of Plano — 2.6 mi