First United Methodist Church

     The First United Methodist Church is the oldest congregation in De Leon.  It was founded in 1876, five years before the railroad arrived and the town was organized.  The members initially met in a log school located immediately southeast of the present Peach and Melon Festival grounds and was probably affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 

     Thirteen Methodist responded to the call of E.A. Bailey, then the Presiding Elder of the Dublin District of the Methodist Church.  At the time, the nearest communities were Dublin, Stephenville, Comanche, and Sipe Springs.  The church became a preaching appointment which probably included ten to fifteen other churches scattered throughout Comanche, Erath, Brown and Eastland counties.

    The founding members included W.P. and Mary Biffle  and children Ellen and John; William and Mary Cooner; David and Mary Windsor; Mrs. Mary Windsor (mother of David), Mrs. Mary Edwards, Mrs. Mary Edmondon, Mrs. R. S. Buchan; and Mrs. Mary Garner.  Seven of the eight women of the congregation were named Mary.

     The church moved into the town when the railroad took over the school for use as the civil engineer’s facility and met in a new school building located on the Austin Branch about where it crosses Labadie Street apparently later sharing the building with the Baptist Church  A parsonage was built on the adjacent lot.  The first church building was constructed in 1883 on the northwest corner of Austin and Labadie.

    The second building was constructed on the same site in 1895 while A.E. Carraway was pastor.  It was replaced in 1917 by a much larger facility.  The church acquired the  former high school site and began construction of the present facility in the summer of 1964.  The first service in the current building was held in January 1965.

The Methodist Church split prior to the Civil War.  In 1939 the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Protestant Church merged to form the Methodist Church.  In 1968 the Methodist Church and the United Evangelical Brethren Church merged to become the United Methodist Church.

The Methodist congregation gathers beside the first actual church building constructed in 1883.  Previously, the church met in school houses.  Note the bell in the rear, which still is used by the church.