March 1913, Charles R. Tips of Seguin, Texas came to Live Oak County, Texas, to buy some land from Mrs. Annie Thornton Hamilton in the Frio River valley. Tips colonized this land from a town, which he named Hamiltonburg.

The land had increased from $5 to $25 per acre because the railroad was being built. Because Tips was not yet 21 years old, the business was formed into a townsite company with a capital stock of $30,000. The 200-acre townsite price set by the Hamiltons was, however, $100 per acre.

By July 4, 1913, the railroad was completed to Hamiltonburg. A great Lot Sale Celebration was held. The train backed in from San Antonio with many people - some to buy and to later return with their household goods.

Among the first families to come was the J. M. Harris family of Pleasanton. They borrowed Sunday School literature from the Pleasanton Methodists and held classes in their tent and later in their home.

One of the first buildings in the new town was a pavilion in a square of land in the center of town, built by the Townsite Company for public use. Church services were also held there. A Baptist minister, the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, organized a Baptist congregation.

In early 1914, a circuit-riding Methodist preacher, Arthur M. Foster came from Oakville, Texas. It is recorded that he organized a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the new community. He had come to preach once a month and the crowd had grown too large for the Harris' home.

Charter members were Mr. and Mrs. Harris, Lorraine and Wilmon; Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Carter, Hildred and Carol; Mr. and Mrs. George Parr, Maud and George, Jr.; and Sybil and Mildred Williams.

Tips gave the Baptists a building site and, so, also the Methodists; later the Catholics and the Lutherans. He gave the Methodists Lots 1 and 2 in Block 33. Although he was not a Methodist, he had attended the Methodist Sunday School in Seguin. When Harris began construction of a church, Tips donated $500.

According to records in the Live Oak Title Company, the Oakville Methodist Church of which Foster was pastor authorized its trustees to apply for a $400 loan from the Extension Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. This loan was received on April 3, 1915, so plans were hastened to complete the Three Rivers building.

By this time, the name of the new town had changed to Three Rivers, which refers to the fact that three rivers - Frio, Atascosa, and Nueces - flow together here. The change was made because of the confusion with the mail to Hamilton, Texas.

On Sunday, September 24, 1978, the last surviving charter member, Lorraine Harris White, was honored at a special Founders' Day Service. She recalled some of the hard times they had paying for the lumber for so large a building, even though many people were coming to the new community.

Early families included Lippard, McMurray, Odom, Williamson and Hill. Records of other early families are unavailable.

In 1908, Dr. Charles F. Simmons had built a beautiful frame Church in his new town - Simmons City - up the Nueces Rivers, west of Three Rivers. When Foster preached in Hamiltonburg (Three Rivers), he also went to Simmons City. The Rev. C. E. Marshall who came in 1917 continued this route. From time to time, they also preached in Pettus, Dinero, Clareville, George West, Lebanon, Mineral, La Parra, Mote Valley and Ramirena. The mode of travel was mostly horseback; sometime, they could use horse and buggy. Paved roads were probably not even envisioned.

In 1925, the Rev. and Mrs. W. L. Hankla moved into the First Parsonage on Lot 12 of the same block as the Church. This large frame house was later moved across the street to where the present parsonage now stands. The first parsonage was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Terrell Rosebrock in 1959 for the highest bid of $3,050. The Rosebrocks moved it to their ranch east of Oakville. The present parsonage was built in 1959 and was first occupied by the Rev. Warren Ellis family.

Moving buildings was an expensive experience. The original Church was moved to Lot 12 to be used while the new Church was constructed in 1950.

Henry E. Steinbomer of San Antonio was the architect of the Early Gothic style sanctuary. The extensive drought and other needs and problems were encountered.

There was much study concerning a cornerstone. It was decided to affix such upon completion of the building, the complete drawings being left by Steinbomer.

The Rev. William E. Parrish was pastor during this period of sanctuary construction. The formal opening was March 12, 1950, with the Rev. C. E. Marshall, McAllen District Superintendent, as morning worship preacher. The Rev. H. H. Washington preached the evening service. The day was filled with rejoicing. At 3:00 PM, the Acapella Choir of Southwestern University sang. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson Coquat gave the meat for the dinner for over 600 people. The day was closed with a Memorial Service and Dedication of certain gifts.

Name plates on the stained glass windows read: Kittie Foster by WSCS Friends; Caroline and Carl T. Adlof; M. T. Buckaloo, Sr., by wife and children; Memory of Joyce Elaine Morgan by Mr. and Mrs. L. S. McClaugherty and Len; Mr. and Mrs. Joe B. Smith; Memory of W. H. Flook by Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Rommel and Mrs. Flook; Memory of Our Mother Annie McMurray; Mr. and Mrs. H. H. McGuffey by Edith and Irma; Dr. Charles Williamson by Friends; Memory of Frances Evelyn Evans; Mrs. W. B. Norred and Family; and the Rose Window in the front eaves by the D. E. Bomar Family.

The congregation had finally gotten beautiful windows but there are fond memories of when Brother Foster had painted the original windows a light green. He also hung new wallpaper in the first Church walking on a high scaffold. Only God knows how Brother Foster managed so many of such tasks.

After Hurricane Beulah on September 21, 1967, three feet of floodwaters filled the sanctuary and ruined the pews. Their nameplates were removed and fastened onto one plaque, which is in the narthex.

Reading this, we again recall many names of families who have been and still are a part of the Church life. The read: The C. E. Bean family; J. A. Bracken; B. L. Brown family; Buckaloo Family; J. S. Campbell by Pauline and Beulah; Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Coquat; Dr. John W. Edmonston; First State Bank; George West Methodist Episcopal Church; Memory of Milam Gill; Rev. Gaston Hartsfield; memory of W. A. Hill; Honor of Mr. and Mrs. William Hornung; Ruby Curd Huff; Honor of Mrs. Annie McMurray by Maurine and Frankie; Memory of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Muenzler; Memory of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Pope; The Price family; Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Odom; Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Pursley; S. F. Vivian and Rebecca Ramsey; Dr. Tom Brown Reagan; Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Rommel; Carl Stendebach; L. N. Clark, Jr.; Memory of J. A. Thornburg; Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Tyler; Dr. and Mrs. C. D. Williamson; Woman's Missionary Society (the name of the women's organization at the time); Harry Zavisch family.

Some of the above people gave the money again for new pews. Reading the above names brings to mind much history, as most of the names were Church members, teachers and/or board members. Some, of course, were just friends of the Church with good wishes.

The pulpit lectern and altar were not ruined, as the water did not get very high on the raised rostrum. The pulpit was given by Mrs. Lee Coquat; the lectern by the Thomas Morgan family; the altar by William and Tillie Parrish; the dossal by Mrs. Ruth Hague; the altar utensils came from Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Walker and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith.

On Sunday, September 24, 1978, the last surviving charter member, Lorraine Harris White, was honored at a special Founder's Day Service. She recalled some of the hard time they had paying for the lumber for so large a building, even though many people were coming to the new community.

Early families were Lippard, McMurray, Odom, Williamson and Hill. Records of other early families were destroyed during the flood brought on by Hurricane Beulah.

By June 24, 1915, the building was far enough along for the first public service. This was the wedding of Irene Murray and Henderson Coquat.

There was a tremendous lot of hard work clearing out the mud and oil, but everyone worked hard. J. F. Gray and A. E. Adlof worked two weeks just scraping up the buckled floor covering to allow terrazzo to be poured.

In the excitement and confusion of the oncoming flood, no one though to move all Church records to high shelves and one of the original books was lost.

The Church is indebted to a troop of dedicated organists who raised money through dinners, donations, and memorials for our organs since the larger sanctuary was opened. They are Della Goebel, Vickie Key, Gertrude Wheeler, Christine Buckaloo -- and the organists at the time were Reagan Matkin, Sue Nicholson and Dawne Thames. There also were Mary Frances Morgan, Nancy Lee and Flo Morgan. Our pianist at that time was Betty Dickinson.

When we recall the pastors who have served, many events come to mind such as in 1938; Rev. Madison Stearns started having wild game dinners with Jack Montgomery being the Chief Cook.

In 1936, while Foster was serving his second tour of four years for the Three Rivers Church, he started the Vacation Bible School.

The Three Rivers history includes helping Whitsett Methodist Church. In 1937, Stearns was pastor when the Whitsett people built a church. They had used the public school since 1914 when they had a pastor out of San Antonio. In 1984, our pastor, John L. Nicholson, was still serving both Three Rivers and Whitsett.

On October 18, 1939, the Unification of the West Texas Conference Methodist Episcopal South and Protestant Methodist resulted in the formation of The Southwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church.

Rev. Foster was back for his third term as pastor of the Three Rivers and Whitsett Churches. He dedicated a new altar Bible in the Three Rivers Church in memory of Annie McMurray on December 10, 1939.

By this time, the Oakville Methodist Church had closed. Some of the members joined in Three Rivers, some joined the George West Methodist Church and some attended the Oakville Baptist Church. The Oakville Methodist Church was sold in 1934 to A. B. Lemley.

War rationing was in effect then and baked goods sales were halted - a person was allowed one-half pound of sugar per month. The sales had raised a great deal of funds, even back to 1915 when Lorraine Harris recalled, "We put a chicken under each arm and went out to the homes to raise money for the lumber to build our Church".

During the early 1940's, when the Rev. J. W. Leggitt was pastor, the Church and parsonage were painted. During these Sundays, the Church service was held in the public school. The request for money for missions received little response; the Women's Missionary records show.

On September 23, 1940, the women's organization name was changed to "Woman's Society of Christian Service". Working women were asked to join the night group known as the Wesleyan Service Guild. The WSG attracted women from other faiths, which strengthened the "community spirit". Union services were held for such days as Good Friday, Thanksgiving, World Day of Prayer, and the Christmas Cantatas were begun. Even as far back as November 1973, the Thanksgiving Union Service offering went for the starving people in Africa.

While Rev. E. F. Kluck was pastor in 1952, he died suddenly in San Marcos. He had inspired K. L. Richards to organize the Methodist Men's Club. Following Kluck was Rev. Jimmy Stone who visited every man of the church and others to invite them to join the new club. Thomas Morgan was elected as the first president. There was a period when the club stopped meeting and no one recalls why. But, the Methodist Men's organization chartered again in 1997 and continues to meet.

Some things are now almost unbelievable! The official board was shocked to hear District Superintendent Frank Charlton say the salary of Rev. C. M. Nyquist should be $5,000 for the year . . . . . just at the time of drought! But, as usual, the money was given.

On May 30, 1968, at 8:30 a.m., the Bishop Eugene Slater opened the 110^th annual session of conference and welcomed into union the Oklahoma-Texas Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren. From this union, Rev. Floyd Vick came to serve Three Rivers and Whitsett. During Vick's term, another lot was added to the sanctuary site.

The original Church had been razed and the materials used to build an educational-fellowship hall, which was, name the Foster Memorial Building. With this second educational building, the completion of the main annex was again delayed. Thomas Roberson was chairman.

Funds to buy the third building came largely from Ruby Pope as a memorial to her parents; thus the building was named Coquat Hall. Her parents were W. R. and Lee Coquat. Besides serving for the youth, the Coquat Hall had the loan closet for the Live Oak Cancer Society patients with Clara Cobb being in charge.

The Foster Memorial Building also became more and more popular. The children of the late Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Muenzler established a public library, which has many good books. Not many people have used the library, but with the addition of study reference books with Sunday school teachers and pastors in mind, this may change. Wilma Herring donated these reference books.

In addition to cancer dressings being made in the Foster Memorial Building, showers and receptions were also held there, Weight Watchers exercised there, and starting in 1976, the annual bazaars added money to the building fund.

In 1941, Rev. J. W. Leggitt started a new Methodist group in Calliham. On May 11, 1952, the Calliham Methodists joined the Three Rivers Church. There was now a paved highway for them to travel into Three Rivers. In 1946, the Methodists from Ray Point had also joined the Three Rivers congregation. The Ray Point Lutherans bought the building and in 1956, they moved it to Three Rivers for a mission. The sale money was added to the indebtedness retirement and on May 10, 1959, the Gothic sanctuary and Foster Memorial mortgages were burned.

On November 8, 1964, the Church celebrated its Golden Anniversary. This was thought by the Harris relatives to be the right week of the start of the Church in the city pavilion in 1914. Dr. R. F. Curl preached and Rev. Charles Simpson was the minister. Shirley Pat Morgan was the organist.

The Church bought Lot 6 in Block 26 (across the street from the sanctuary) from Mr. and Mrs. Royse Bomar. It also faces Church Street. Sheriff Albert Smith had all-weather materials placed on this new parking lot. The street is named for The Honorable Frank Church who was Live Oak County Judge when Tips started the town.

The Rev. Larry Bailey started children's Sermons. He also served for a short time to fill a vacancy on the city council. A long history would be interesting just to recall all the Church Sunday school teachers and superintendents. Just a few of our superintendents since September 1978 have been J. M. Harris, James Allen Odom, O. F. Akers, Adolph Stendebach, Raymond Black, John Severa, Ray Lee, Thomas Morgan, Roberta Bailey, Barbara Forehand, J. W. Gregory, Curry Newport, Mary Ann Meeks and Kim Shannon.

And the youth directors! Remember the Christmas feasts Alice Erler and her children, Rosie and Larry, cooked? And the faithful Church Treasurer, Jack Montgomery, who served for many, many years and also started the coffee brewing each Sunday morning.

The history deals so much with buildings and money that readers may think those are the most important facts. They are indeed important and to have a Treasurer like Jack Montgomery keep absolutely correct records from 1930 through the early 1990's - well, it is worth recording and underlining.

The Epworth League was helpful in the decision of two men to become ministers: Orion Lewis and Billy Joe White.

New room? Yes, after 35 years from the time the sanctuary was built, the main building is now complete. There had always been hope. A memorial fund was maintained and from it new items and repairs were made. Perhaps the planting of a memorial Live Oak on February 7, 1963, was the directive. For as Rev. B. C. Schmidt assisted Ray Lee in digging the hole, Schmidt said to be careful not to plant it where it would be in the way of the annex.

Three Rivers was experiencing much activity in the 1970's. There were plans to build the massive Choke Canyon Dam and lake; the larger refinery; and much uranium activity. Some of these "new people" were coming to Church and they were surely welcomed.

Never far from the front line, the United Methodist Women decided to start a building fund, holding their first bazaar on November 6, 1976. The idea of finishing the big building caught on and during Rev. tom Banks' year, the board voted to build rather than repair all the old frame rooms. June of 1982 saw the building committee formed.

On the first meeting in October 1983, all building committee members, except one, favored going ahead with the building construction. At that time, the estimated cost was $350,000. By the time they chose to build the annex, there was $135,000 on hand, much of it from the United Methodist Women bazaars and the rest from memorials.

Not much had been done or said since the past Christmas but no doubt there are fond memories of Tom Banks. He and his wife, Dottie, had planned and trained the first "Handling of the Green" but by Christmas, Tom was hospitalized. During the greens program with a packet Church present, he came walking down the aisle singing, "I'll be Home for Christmas". Tom Randles was already the substitute pastor. He added 18 members to the roll, but by Mary 20, 1984, he chose to return to San Antonio. On May 15, 1983, Tom Randles had announced the death of Rev. Banks.

After Tom Randles, Navy Retired Col. Bob Vaughn preached. Rev. Elaine Smith of Nixon preached on March 10, 1984. Corpus Christi District Superintendent Joseph Ray served communion. On June 17, 1984, John L. Nicholson, a layman from Corpus Christi Asbury United Methodist Church came to preach. John preached again on July 29. On August 1, 1984, Superintendent Ray telephoned our Pastor Parish Relations Committee chairman to tell us Nicholson had dedicated himself to full time ministry and would come to Three Rivers and Whitsett, if accepted. He was immediately accepted.

McCord and Lorenz of Corpus Christi were secured for the architects as this firm designed an exact match to the Gothic style Church. The bid was let on December 17, 1984, and Stapleton Construction, Three Rivers, was the successful bidder for $467,000.

The Building Committee chairman pointed out the additional costs, which are needed for so large a project. The Foster Memorial Building was removed by the highest bidder following completion of the annex.

Records show the Three Rivers Church voted in May 1959 to help build Wesley Manor in the Texas Valley; that the Wesleyan Service Guild honored 24 new Church members in 1961; a children's class sent Bishop O. Eugene Slater $16.25 to help build a Church in Korea - and hundreds of other small and large events.

The original iron bell on a tower, which the Harris family bought for the first Church, is still being used.  It has been relocated to northwest of the Sanctuary.

We recognize we have left out many events and names, such as "Miss Jodie" who taught the little ones so long, Mrs. J. F. Gray who taught beginners for 50 years and gave them all Bibles, Rev. Bill Parrish who walked over the whole town to spread The Word, and our beloved Pablo Belasquez of over 25 years, caring for the place as though he owned it.