First United Methodist Church of Stanton

Stanton's schools and papers grew alongside its congregations. A two-story red brick schoolhouse replaced a two-room building in 1909, and the first high school opened in 1926. White, Hispanic and Black students attended separate schools until 1949, and Black students who wanted a high school education were bused to Midland. The Stanton Reading Club founded the town's first library in 1914. The Stanton Courier began in 1904 and gave way a year later to the Stanton Reporter, which lasted until 1984. In the 1920s Stanton also sought Texas Technological College, losing to Lubbock.

What the plaque says

First United Methodist Church of Stanton Early Methodists in Stanton shared a Union church building with area Baptists. In 1904, following a local revival, nine individuals formed a separate Methodist congregation. The Rev. J.A. Sweeney, a Conference-appointed pastor, came the next year. In 1907, the church built its first sanctuary. The membership grew, and churches in the nearby communities of Lenorah and Courtney merged into the congregation. During its first century, the congregation added new facilities to accommodate growing needs, and church activities included a women's group, music ministries, youth fellowship, and other educational and outreach programs. (2004)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hangar 25 Air Museum — 17 mi
  A restored World War II hangar on the old air base above Big Spring, telling the story of the bombardier school of 1942 and of Webb Air Force Base, which trained pilots until 1977.
• Big Spring State Park — 19 mi
  A CCC drive looping up Scenic Mountain, a 200-foot bluff above the town that grew around the only dependable spring within sixty miles of open Llano country.
• Bush Family Home State Historic Site — 20 mi
  The small 1939 frame house on West Ohio Avenue where George and Barbara Bush raised their young family in Midland's 1950s oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site.
• Hotel Settles — 20 mi
  Big Spring's fifteen-story hotel of 1930, built on ranch oil money, once the tallest building between Fort Worth and El Paso, empty and roosted in by pigeons for decades and now restored.

More markers nearby

• Marienfeld — steps away
• Site of St. Joseph's Church — steps away
• Martin County — 1.4 mi
• Marcy Trail — 15 mi