Wylie Methodist Church

Wylie got its name from a railroad man. A county-history page says that in 1886 the Santa Fe came through north of Nickelville, with Col. W. D. Wylie as its agent and engineer. He promised to do great things for the community if it took his name, bought 100 acres and sold town lots. Nickelville moved north to the tracks and became Wylie. The same page says the Santa Fe's railway company deeded land for the large Old Wylie Cemetery to a board of directors. The Methodists bought land for a sanctuary by 1887, in the new town.

What the plaque says

Wylie Methodist Church This congregation traces its history to the 1850s, when several Methodist families moved to this area of Collin county. Early worship services were conducted in the homes of the William Spurgin and Mark L. Morris families. The Spurgin home, located about 2 miles northwest of present Wylie, became known as Spurgin Chapel. By 1873 a one-room log building known as Liberty Chapel was constructed to serve as both church and school. It was replaced in 1897 by a new building named St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Settlers in the pioneer community of Nickleville (later renamed Wylie) held worship services in a schoolhouse built by William H. Lee. By 1887, land was purchased for a new sanctuary and the first Wylie Methodist Church was built. It was replaced by a brick structure at this site in 1924. Served in its early years by circuit-riding ministers, including the Rev. Jacob B. Minnis, Wylie United Methodist Church has been a part of Collin county history for more than a century. The St. Paul Methodist Congregation merged with Wylie Methodist in 1946, and together the members continue to serve the community with a variety of programs. (1994)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 9.1 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 10.0 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Fair Park — 21 mi
  The State Fair of Texas grounds since 1886, where the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition left one of the country's greatest concentrations of Art Deco exposition buildings.
• African American Museum, Dallas — 21 mi
  Founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a free Fair Park museum holding the Sepia photograph archive, African art and A. Maceo Smith's papers, and the story of the Hall of Negro Life.

More markers nearby

• St. Paul — 1.8 mi
• McMillen Cemetery — 2.1 mi
• City of Wylie — 2.2 mi
• First Baptist Church of Wylie — 2.2 mi