Shamrock Methodist Church

Shamrock grew on water and oil. Until 1923 residents hauled water to town in barrels, when a main was laid from the nearby J. M. Porter ranch; wells came later. The town had about 2,500 people in 1925. Oil was found nearby in 1926, the Shamrock Gas Company supplied fuel from local wells, and a compress, a carbon black plant and a gasoline extraction plant joined the cottonseed oil mills, bringing the population to 3,778 by 1930. A slump in the oil business cut it to 3,123 by 1940, and the town recovered to 3,326 in 1950.

What the plaque says

Shamrock Methodist Church Visits of Methodist ministers to this area began in 1881. On June 17, 1901, circuit rider W. L. Harris, from Cataline Mission (40 miles north), organized this first local church in native walnut grove of Mrs. Mary Ruth Jones (3 miles north). Charter members (17) included families of Gid Bell, G. J. Duncan, M. V. Harvey, Mrs. Jones; also, John B. Harvey, Dan Lehman, Lillie Jones Trostle. On February 1, 1903, services were moved from homes of members to Shamrock schoolhouse. Other early church families: The A. J. Austins, T. E. Burkhalters, Frank Exums, S. W. Norwoods, W. B. Smiths, D. F. Spuills, E. L. Woodleys, and Mrs. A. N. Holmes. First church building was erected and missionary society founded 1906. Tornado destroyed the structure in 1907; a second was planned by the Rev. T. B. Hilburn, built under the Rev. W. Y. Switzer, 1908, with A. J. Austin as contractor. Third church was built in 1929 under the Rev. C. W. Foote; present sanctuary was completed in 1965 under the Rev. C. Melton. Other pastors: P. G. Huffman, W. M. Pope, J. P. Patterson, M. S. Leveridge, Cal C. Wright, Ed R. Wallace, W. E. Hamilton, R. N. Huckabee, C. E. Jameson, R. A. Stewart, Lance Webb, A. C. Haynes, M. B. Norwood, H. H. Bratcher, S. M. Dunnam, Frank Beauchamp, Jim Sharp, Lyman Paul Wood, Oscar Bruce and Tommie Beck. Church name was revised 1939 and 1968. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tower Station and U-Drop Inn — 0.5 mi
  Shamrock's 1936 Conoco station and cafe at the corner of Route 66 and US-83, sketched in the dirt with a nail, named by a schoolboy and saved by the town.
• Devil's Rope and Old Route 66 Museum — 20 mi
  Barbed wire and the Texas road in McLean's old brassiere factory: the fence that closed the open range, from the salesmen who sold it to the Panhandle ranches it divided.
• Phillips 66 Station, McLean — 20 mi
  A 1929 cottage-style Phillips 66 station on First Street in McLean, the town I-40 went around last and whose Route 66 business district stayed much as it was.
• Old Mobeetie Jail Museum — 23 mi
  The 1886 stone jail of the Panhandle's first county seat, the buffalo hunters' Hidetown on Sweetwater Creek that ran the courts for fifteen counties before losing its fort, railroad hopes and county seat.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Shamrock — steps away
• Shamrock's St. Patrick's Day Celebration — 0.2 mi
• Episcopal Church of St. Michael and All Angels — 0.5 mi
• Lela School — 5.5 mi