First United Methodist Church of Katy

Katy, first known as Cane Island, took its name perhaps from the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad or perhaps from the saloonkeeper's wife. The Katy had built through by the end of 1893, but J. E. Cabaniss did not take up his duties as the first agent until 1895, and the depot was finished in 1898. A post office opened in 1896 under grocer J. O. Thomas. William Eule brought rice farming in 1901, and rice took the place of cotton, peanuts and corn. In 1904, the year the sanctuary was finished, Katy counted 119 people.

What the plaque says

First United Methodist Church of Katy This congregation traces its history to 1898, when a group of Baptists, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Methodists organized a Union Sunday School in the home of Willard James. Sometimes about 1900, the Methodists formed a separate fellowship. The Rev. M. L. Lindsey, first pastor appointed to this congregation, also served other Methodist churches on the Houston circuit. He was assisted by several of the early families of the church, including those of W. P. Bowers, J. E. Cabiness, E. M. Morton, and T. G. Roberts. Lay members held worship services during the early years when the minister could not attend every sunday. In 1903, land was secured from W. E. and R. M. Cash and from L. C. Luckel, and the foundation for a frame church building was laid. The Methodist sanctuary was completed in 1904, during the pastorate of the Rev. E. W. Potter, and was the first church building constructed in the town of Katy. It served the congregation until 1938, when a new sanctuary was built. The current structure was completed in 1961. Throughout its history, the First United Methodist Church of Katy has provided significant service and leadership to the community. The congregation continues to reflect the ideals and traditions of its founders. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Menil Collection — 26 mi
  John and Dominique de Menil's free museum in Montrose: a grey-sided Renzo Piano building among bungalows, holding antiquities, Surrealism and art of Oceania under natural light.
• Rothko Chapel — 26 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — 26 mi
  The oldest art museum in Texas, grown from a 1900 schoolroom art league into a campus of Watkin, Mies van der Rohe and later buildings, with Ima Hogg's Bayou Bend up the bayou.
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — 27 mi
  A museum in Houston's 1925 Light Guard Armory that tells the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War onward, built from one veteran's thirty years of collecting.

More markers nearby

• The City of Katy — steps away
• Pittsville — 7.7 mi
• Fulshear Cemetery — 8.1 mi
• _H7 Ranch — 8.2 mi