First United Methodist Church of Beaumont

Methodism in Beaumont ran on horseback. A local history says Rev. Daniel Morse was named Methodist minister for the Alligator district in 1877, and that preachers there sold alligator skins to supplement their pay, which gave the circuit its name. During Morse's four years there were no regular church buildings; services met in homes, in grog shops and at crossroads. The same history calls Rev. John F. Pipkin the first resident minister of record in Beaumont and says he came to southeast Texas in 1852, moved to town around 1859 and held services in the old courthouse.

What the plaque says

First United Methodist Church of Beaumont In 1839, Methodist Missionary Samuel A. Williams (1810-66) conducted first religious service in Beaumont, followed in 1840 by another Methodist minister, Henry Stephenson (1772-1841), organizer of first Protestant church in Texas (McMahan's Chapel near San Augustine in 1834). Early congregations met under brush arbors, in homes, and in a frame schoolhouse, and listened to sermons of itinerant riders of the "Alligator Circuit" -- as the ministry called this river and bayou region. John Fletcher Pipkin (1809-90), a lay preacher from just across the Neches River, began holding regular worship services in Beaumont in 1852, and took up permanent residence here in 1859. During the long intervals between visits of the circuit riders, he performed marriage and funeral services for all faiths. The schoolhouse-church building, destroyed in an 1865 hurricane, was not replaced, due to lack of money in the post-Civil War period, until 1877, when Methodists and Baptists pooled resources to erect a common church. In 1885, the Baptists relocated and sold their interest in the structure to the Methodists. In 1890, a steepled church was constructed, which was replaced by a domed building in 1907. The present spired edifice was consecrated in 1968. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McFaddin-Ward House — 0.8 mi
  A Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1906 and lived in by one family for 75 years, with free guided tours of three furnished floors, the carriage house and gardens.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 3.9 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.
• Village Creek State Park — 12 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 18 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.

More markers nearby

• The Clubhouse, The Woman's Club of Beaumont — steps away
• Beaumont Enterprise — steps away
• Congregation Temple Emanuel — 0.3 mi
• First Security National Bank — 0.3 mi