First Methodist Church of Rockport

The plaque says the Methodists kept building for a growing membership, and the census shows the town growing around them. Rockport counted 1,382 people in 1914, the year the congregation moved to this corner, and 1,545 in 1920. The count fell to 1,140 by 1930, then climbed to 1,729 in 1940, when the town had sixty-five businesses. It reached 2,266 in 1950 and 2,989 in 1960. By 1970 about 3,900 people supported 150 businesses. The real surge came later: 7,385 residents in 2000, 8,766 in 2010 and 10,070 in 2020.

What the plaque says

First Methodist Church of Rockport The Methodist Church has been in existence in Rockport since about 1870. The Rev. H. G. Horton was assigned as pastor of the Rockport church in 1872. The original Methodist church building, erected at the corner of Live Oak and Bay Streets, was used by a number of other congregations until their own facilities were completed. The Methodists relocated to this site in 1914 and later built new structures to meet the needs of the growing membership. With an emphasis on educational programs, this church continues to be an integral part of the community. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fulton Mansion State Historic Site — 2.7 mi
  A French Second Empire house of 1874-77 on Aransas Bay, paid for with hides and tallow, with gas lights, central heat and hot running water no other house nearby had.
• Goose Island State Park — 8.8 mi
  A bayside park between St. Charles and Aransas bays, home of the Big Tree, the state champion coastal live oak, thought to be more than a thousand years old.
• Port Aransas — 13 mi
  The fishing town at the north end of Mustang Island, reached by a free state ferry that crosses the ship channel day and night, with a university marine lab begun in a one-room shack.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 25 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.

More markers nearby

• Rockport Pilot, The — steps away
• Site of Aransas Hotel — steps away
• San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad in Rockport, The — steps away
• Sacred Heart Catholic Church — steps away