Follett United Methodist Church and Church Bell

The Handbook of Texas calls the Methodist system of circuit riders, closely supervised by presiding elders under the authority of itinerant bishops, remarkably effective in reaching widely scattered settlers in Texas. The Texas Mission became an annual conference in 1840 with 1,878 members in fourteen circuits served by seventeen preachers, and by annexation the state had two conferences, 6,693 members and fifty-nine circuit riders aided by sixty-eight local preachers. After the Civil War the advance moved northwest, with new churches in the 1880s in towns such as Abilene, Vernon and Wichita Falls.

What the plaque says

The Rev. Grant. L. Hayes, first Methodist circuit rider in this area, founded the Ivanhoe, Oklahoma, church 3 miles to the north in 1902; the Stillwater Church, 6 miles east, in Texas in 1904. After Follett originated on the Santa Fe Railroad in 1917, the two congregations merged here. The Old Ivanhoe church bell, cast in Ohio in 1907, was relocated at the Follett building site in 1919, installed in first church tower in 1924, and brought as a link from the historic past to the modern church (built 1961) in 1976. (1977)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Follett United Methodist Church — steps away
• Follett — steps away
• Northeast Corner of Texas — 7.6 mi
• No Man's Land — 15 mi