Shooks Chapel Methodist Church

Sources disagree about this church's name and gift. The plaque dates the congregation to 1886, names it for the Rev. W. A. Shook, who held the first revival, and credits land to B. P. Joiner. The Handbook of Texas dates the settlement to about 1887, says the community was named for Wiley W. Shooks, its first pastor, and credits the land to Gus Joiner. It adds that a one-room frame church went up in 1888, a larger one replaced it in 1916, and a six-classroom annex came in 1950.

What the plaque says

Shooks Chapel Methodist Church This church traces its history to 1886, when area settlers organized a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The church was named for the Rev. W. A. Shook, who held the first revival here. The congregation met in a brush arbor or a nearby schoolhouse until a sanctuary was built on land donated by B. P. Joiner. Early worship services were led by student pastors who were often paid in produce. Associated with the church is a community cemetery, begun in 1889. A second sanctuary, built in 1916, was replaced by a new structure in 1974. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cooper Lake State Park — 19 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• Union Communiity — 3.1 mi
• Morning Chapel Missionary Baptist Church — 4.1 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Sulphur Springs — 4.3 mi
• General W. H. King — 4.3 mi