Washington Methodist Church

Washington Methodist Church. . Methodist preacher Henry Stephenson traveled through Texas in 1826, and reportedly preached at the home of William and Catherine Gates near the future town of Washington, at a time when Mexican authorities did not permit protestant church services. By 1833, Minister John Wesley Kenney settled here and was preaching in Samuel Gates' house. Settlers David Ayers and Lydia McHenry successfully appealed to the Methodist Missionary Society and the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States to send three missionaries to the Republic of Texas in late 1837. Each of these men, Martin Ruter, Robert Alexander, and Littleton Fowler, were in Washington at different times in 1837. The following year, a frame building for the Methodist Episcopal Church was built on part of block 44 at the intersection of Gay and Hamilton Streets, completed soon after Ruter died and was buried in Washington. It was one of the earliest churches of the denomination built in Texas., In 1839, the Washington circuit reported 178 members, two local preachers and three Sunday schools; churches included Washington, San Felipe, Piney, Centre Hill, Travis, Caney Creek, Halloway, Cedar Creek and Independence. By 1845, the Texas Conference designated Washington as a district church, and in 1847 the circuit reported 254 Anglo members and 54 African Americans. In 1852, a new brick structure replaced the first church; it was often referred to as Ruter's church in honor of the early minister. The population of the town and church were in decline in the 1850s, and after the roof of the abandoned church collapsed, the property was sold in 1870. Members remained active and met in other locations for a few years even with no building of their own. In 1884, Rev. C.L. Spencer transferred the church bell and remaining funds to the Navasota congregation. The Methodist Church in Washington is remembered as a significant early house of worship and faith.