Introduction
In the Beginning
The Beginning of Methodism
The First Methodist Church Building: 1883-1895
The Second Methodist Church Building: 1895-1917
The Third Methodist Church Building 1917-1964
The Fourth Methodist Church Building: 1964 to the Present
The Addition of Heritage Hall
The Church Renovation Project: 1999-2000
The Church Bell
The Time Capsule
Little Children's Daycare
Sunday School Superintendents
In Closing
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In 1876, 11 years after the Civil War was ended, 13 hardy settlers met at the log schoolhouse at the call of Rev. E. A. Bailey (then Presiding Elder of the Dublin District) and organized a Methodist Society. The13 were: W.P. and Mary Biffle; William and Mary Cooner; David and Mary Windsor; Mary Windsor (mother of David); Mrs. Mary Edwards; Mrs. Mary Edmondson; Miss Ellen Biffle; John Biffle; Mrs. R.S. Buchan; Mrs. Mary Gardner. (Note that five of the seven women were named "Mary.")
Texas encouraged railroad building by donating alternate sections (640 acres) of land to the railroad. Sections in between lots were likewise "set aside" for churches, schools, and cemeteries. In the year 1879 the Texas Pacific Railroad was chartered by Congress and began building westward from Waco toward Hico and Dublin. The grading pushed toward the Comanche County line on to Mt. Airy Hill and the community of Theney. A railroad official, M.T. Comyn, succeeded in having the post office named for him, but the school which had been built in that community retained the name "Theney." On April 10, 1881, railroad officials surveyed and laid out a new town site about six miles west, and on July 7, 1881, the first train bearing railroad officials pulled into that recently surveyed site for the sale of lots. With this act, the town of DeLeon was born.
The sale of lots was conducted from the back of a flatbed railroad car by a man named R. M. Elgin. In the area that was chosen for the new townsite, there were only two or three houses, and buyers at the sale were few and unresponsive. Sales that day totaled less than a thousand dollars. Only nine lots were sold -- the costliest $112.00. The name of the town was to be DeLeon, because it was close to the Leon River. However, for several years the railroad's maps and brochures designated it simply as "Leon."
Straightaway, the log schoolhouse on Austin Branch was commandeered for use as a stable for the mules of the railroad's civil engineer. A new schoolhouse was built near that branch within the city limits about two blocks northeast of the present Baptist Church. The Methodists continued to worship in this new location and erected a parsonage on the adjoining lot. (It is believed that it may be presently 304 E. Gonzales). They continued to worship there until 1883.
The railroad and new town site attracted many new settlers -- both tradesmen and farmers. This area (which had been isolated by bad roads and scarce trails making the movement of goods and supplies of any kind slow and hazardous) suddenly had access to efficient and low cost transportation necessary to support farming and shipments of goods, transportation, and people. Within four months of its founding, there was a grocery store, meat market, three dry goods stores, a depot, grist mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, and a post office.
The years before the turn of the century saw an explosion of settlers moving into the area. Although the 1890 census enumerated only 364 people living inside the city limits of DeLeon, the numbers in Precinct 3 of Comanche County totaled 3,557 people.
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