Site of First Methodist Annual Conference in Texas

Rutersville stayed a Methodist center for more than a decade after the first conference. Annual camp meetings were held here through the 1840s and 1850s, and the congregation had 167 members in 1847. Its decline came when the college passed out of Methodist control in 1856, and the church renamed the Rutersville District the La Grange District. Methodism returned once more: in 1883 the Southern German Conference of the Methodist Church bought the old campus and ran it as a conference school until 1894, when it closed. The buildings were eventually razed.

What the plaque says

Site of First Methodist Annual Conference in Texas The Rev. Martin Ruter (1785-1838) came to Texas as a missionary for the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1837. A town called Rutersville and Rutersville College, both located here, were named in his honor. Bishop Beverly Waugh arrived in Galveston in early December 1840. His mission was to visit Texas Methodists and to assemble and organize the first annual conference. Accompanied by Thomas O. Summers, Waugh traveled to Austin, where on December 20 he preached in the Capitol. Bishop Waugh arrived in Rutersville on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day he called the conference into session at Rutersville College. During the four day meeting the delegates elected Thomas O. Summers secretary of the conference, heard reports of the nine preachers present, admitted four new preachers, and ordained two deacons. The Texas Missionary Society also met, and plans were made for the second annual conference to be held in San Augustine in 1841. Following its humble beginnings here in 1840, the Texas conference of the Methodist Church grew steadily, eventually to include additional annual conferences within the state. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 17 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 23 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.

More markers nearby

• Rutersville College — steps away
• Rutersville — 0.4 mi
• Asa Hill of Rutersville — 0.4 mi
• Oldenburg — 2.9 mi