First United Methodist Church of Navasota

The chapel's namesake was still alive when it opened in 1866. Robert Alexander, the Tennessee-born missionary who entered Texas in 1837, sat at the 1845 Louisville convention that formed the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, helped found the Texas Wesleyan Banner in 1848, and served as the American Bible Society's Texas agent from 1855 to 1858. He helped place Soule University at Chappell Hill in 1856, chaired the commission that founded Southwestern University at Georgetown, and died at Chappell Hill in 1882. He now lies in Prairie Lea Cemetery in Brenham.

What the plaque says

First United Methodist Church of Navasota The first worship services of the Methodist church in Navasota were held in 1853 in the community schoolhouse. The Rev. T. W. Blake served as part-time pastor for most of the antebellum and Civil War years. In 1866 the Houston & Texas Central Railroad deeded land at this site for use by the Methodist congregation. In that year, a frame building with shuttered windows was constructed for the fellowship. It was named Robert Alexander Chapel in honor of an early Methodist circuit rider in Texas. The chapel was also used by Navasota's Presbyterian congregation. In 1891 a rock building replaced the frame structure and was used until 1912, when a brick sanctuary was built. The current sanctuary was completed in 1959. Although the size of the congregation is relatively small when compared with that of other churches in the area, the First United Methodist Church of Navasota has served as host to the Texas Annual Conference of Methodist Churches. Throughout its history, this congregation has provided significant service and leadership to the community and has continued to uphold the ideals and traditions of its pioneer founders. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Navasota — 0.3 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Star of the Republic Museum — 6.1 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 6.1 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 8.8 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Navasota — steps away
• Saint Paul's Episcopal Church — steps away
• Site of Freeman Inn — steps away
• Home of Lt. Gov. George D. Neal — steps away