Methodism in Joshua

The plaque names two Methodist communities that came before Joshua, and the Handbook of Texas shows what became of them. Caddo Grove had a post office and was thriving until 1881, when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe missed it and built a station at the future Joshua; its post office was withdrawn in 1883. The railroad also bypassed Marystown that year, and its residents moved to Burleson. Joshua took its name after the post office rejected Caddo Peak, a duplicate; Dr. D. B. McMillan purportedly proposed the biblical name.

What the plaque says

Methodism in Joshua Prior to the establishment of Joshua as a railroad town in 1881, Methodists in the area worshiped at the Caddo Grove and Marystown communities. A Methodist church was organized in Joshua in 1883 with assistance from the Marystown church. Constituted as part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the congregation is now known as the First United Methodist Church of Joshua. The fellowship has actively supported community affairs and missionary efforts. Its ties to earlier area Methodist congregations have made the Joshua church an important link in Johnson County history. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Acton State Historic Site — 18 mi
  The smallest state historic site in Texas, a grave plot holding Elizabeth Crockett, widow of David Crockett, under a 1913 statue of a pioneer woman shading her eyes toward the west.
• Cleburne State Park — 18 mi
  A 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps park on the old Chisholm Trail crossing country, with a spring-fed lake, a hand-carved three-tiered spillway and a CCC bridge in Johnson County.
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 19 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 19 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.

More markers nearby

• Site of Buchanan — 5.3 mi
• The Interurban in Burleson — 6.3 mi
• Site of Red Oak Academy — 6.3 mi
• Crowley Cemetery — 7.8 mi