Historical Marker

Means Methodist Church

Andrews, Andrews County · Texas

Erected 1968

Andrews grew slowly around its first churches until oil changed the pace. In 1934 J. W. Tripplehorn brought in the J. S. Means No. 1 and R. M. Means No. 1 wells, and the Andrews County News began publishing the same year. The town incorporated in 1937. Its population, 611 in 1940, understated the boom, because most oilmen and their families lived outside town in company camps. A library opened in one room of the county courthouse in 1947 and moved to its own building in 1967. By the 1960s most of the companies had closed their camps.

What the plaque says

Means Methodist Church (First church in Andrews County). Organized in 1907 by circuit preacher F. T . Pollard and seven charter members. The group held services in local school until 1912, when a one-room church was built, financed by donations of members, including a generous gift from rancher J. S. Means. All denominations were allowed to worship in this early structure. In 1944 the church (located 2 blocks W, 4 blocks S. of here, on main St.) burned and members once again met in the school. Present building was finished in 1946; educational building in 1955; and the modern sanctuary, capable of seating 700, in 1957. (1968)

Where it stands

32.32216, -102.54524 · Directions

Worth the stop nearby

Bush Family Home State Historic Site — 35 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.
Museum of the Southwest — 35 mi
Midland's art and science museum in the 1937 house of oilman Fred Turner and his wife Juliette, with added galleries, a children's museum and a planetarium on the grounds.
Permian Basin Petroleum Museum — 36 mi
Midland's museum of the oil basin it sits on, from a restored diorama of the Permian reef to a 40-acre yard of drilling rigs and Jim Hall's Chaparral race cars.

More markers nearby

← All historical markers