First United Methodist Church of Sinton

The plaque begins with the Sinton Town Company's 1894 charter, but the townsite was older. Soon after the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway crossed the county in 1886, George W. Fulton of the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company won approval to give 640 acres on the south bank of Chiltipin Creek; the town was named for David Sinton, the company's majority stockholder. Cattle-loading pens went up first. A post office opened in the section house in 1888 and was gone by 1892. An election made Sinton the county seat on June 23, 1894, yet counted only seventy-five people in 1908.

What the plaque says

First United Methodist Church of Sinton Serving the community of Sinton since the early 20th century, the roots of the First United Methodist Church date back to earlier interdenominational services. Between 1894, when the charter for Sinton Town Company was granted, and 1908, there was no organized Protestant church in the town. However, Christians met regularly for worship and were ministered to by visiting pastors of different denominations. The local Methodist lay leader, W.T. Barnhouse, served when no ordained Methodist minister was available. In 1907, the Sinton Town Company passed a resolution donating one lot to any group wishing to erect a church building. Members of the Church of Christ accepted the offer and built the first Protestant chuch building in Sinton. There, the practice of alternating preachers and denominational services continued. In 1908, Sinton Methodists organized, erecting their first church building that year. First United Methodist Church of Sinton has a long history of community service. As a driving force within the church, the women held events to raise donations and funds. A former victim of flood damage itself, the church has also donated to others who have suffered from floods. Additionally, members have helped Sinton residents through community health, food ministry and child education programs. Through the years, notable pastors, such as the Rev. J.J. Mason, led the church as it grew. Members have also entered fulltime ministry and have supported overseas missionaries. Today, First United Methodist Church continues to provide for the spiritual, physical and educational needs of the community of Sinton. (2007)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Aquarium — 17 mi
  A nonprofit aquarium on the tip of Corpus Christi Beach built around the Gulf and the Caribbean, with the largest coastal wildlife rescue center in Texas behind the exhibits.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 17 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.
• Art Museum of South Texas — 17 mi
  Philip Johnson's 1972 museum on the Corpus Christi bayfront, joined in 2006 by Ricardo Legorreta's Miller Wing, holding more than 2,000 works mostly from Texas and the Americas.
• Mirador de la Flor — 18 mi
  Corpus Christi's bayfront memorial to Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Tejano singer from this city, killed in 1995 at twenty-three, visited by about thirty thousand people a year.

More markers nearby

• Plymouth Oil Company and Plymouth Oilers — 0.3 mi
• St. Paul — 4.9 mi
• Meansville and Kaleta — 7.3 mi
• Odem First Baptist Church — 7.6 mi