First United Methodist Church of Orange

Two Record stories tell how the present church was built. Local architect and builder Thomas Avant Howell, a member, designed the Gothic brick sanctuary, begun in 1919; the congregation moved in during 1921, and the formal opening came June 10, 1923. It cost $140,000, raised by subscription, and children and youth sold bricks for ten cents each. Texas Art Glass Company of Houston made the three front windows showing the life of Christ. The building loans were paid off in 1937, and a Moller pipe organ was installed in 1946.

What the plaque says

First United Methodist Church of Orange The first recorded Methodist activity in Orange was in 1859, when the Rev. Valerious C. Canon was sent here from the Woodville District. By 1871, Orange was on a circuit which included Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange counties. According to legend, one of the first circuit riders, the Rev. Daniel Morse, supplemented his preaching income by hunting alligators in nearby swamps and marshes and selling the hides. For that reason, this became known as the "Alligator Circuit." The first Methodist church was organized in 1873 with 44 charter members. The congregation erected a small frame church on College Street and shared their building with other denominations. A Sunday School was established in 1879. Initially classified as a mission, this fellowship became self-supporting in 1884. The Rev. W. H. Crawford served as the first full-time pastor. Fire destroyed the original church building in 1886. The Ladies Aid Society helped raise funds for a new frame church situated at the corner of Border and Henderson streets. Completed in 1892, it was moved to this location in 1912 and replaced by the present sanctuary in 1921. By 1978, this congregation had grown to over 1500 members. (1978)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stark Museum of Art — steps away
  A white-marble museum in Orange built by the Stark Foundation and opened in 1978, holding Western art, American Indian art, Audubon's Birds of America and Steuben glass, free to enter.
• Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center — 1.0 mi
  More than 250 acres on Adams Bayou, begun by H. J. Lutcher Stark in 1937, with garden rooms, a cypress-tupelo swamp, a heronry blind and free pontoon tours in season.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 19 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.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 21 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.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Orange — steps away
• The Emmett Beuhler House — steps away
• Henry Jacob Lutcher Stark — steps away
• The City of Orange — steps away