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THE HISTORY OF FIRST METHODIST HOUSTON
First Methodist Houston is a multicultural church where the past and future intersect and its history dates to 1839. The first church building was constructed on Texas Avenue at the current site of the Houston Chronicle Building. In 1910, the congregation moved to the corner of Main and Clay streets. Then, in 1993, the church added a second campus on the west side of the city, which offers additional worship opportunities, a school, and a recreational center complete with swimming pools and softball fields. Additionally, over the years the church has founded Wesley Community Center, Clarewood House Retirement Home, First Choice Media Ministry, and Christian Alliance Ministry to better serve the larger Houston area.
1836 - 1906
Methodism Comes to a Texas Town
1836 Colonel William Barrett Travis, shortly before falling in defense of the Alamo, writes the General Conference of the Methodist Church meeting on the Eastern coast of the U.S.A. requesting Methodist pastors for the new Republic being born in Texas. The Methodist Church responds by assigning three missionaries to this new area.
1839 Reverend Jess Hord organizes Houston's first Methodist church in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol Building of the Republic located, at that time, in Houston.
1842 The church's first building program is launched. On March 2, the cornerstone is laid on property that was set aside by the Allen brothers at the time they founded Houston. That lot at Travis and Texas is currently the location of the Houston Chronicle building.
1844 The church building opens on May 11 with a recorded membership of "32 black and 36 white."
1848 "Slaves" and "Free" form separate congregations. It is the joy of the First family that, today, we minister to ALL people across lines of race, culture, class, and nationality.
1854 Reverend James Ferguson becomes our pastor. Ferguson is also remembered as the father of Jim Ferguson who later became Governor of Texas and the father-in-law of Miriam "Ma" Ferguson who was Texas' first woman Governor.
1860 A wall of the church's original brick building collapses during a storm just minutes after Sunday services. The congregation meets in the black members' building on a nearby lot until after the Civil War.
1867 A yellow fever epidemic kills more than 1,000 Houstonians, including our pastor, William Rees.
1883 On December 9, we begin worship in our new church building. It is an English Gothic brick church called Shearn Memorial. The church property is located at Travis and Texas Avenue, at the present downtown location of the Houston Chronicle.
1900 A disastrous September hurricane devastates Galveston, requiring the church to minister in dramatic ways to the survivors, followed by extensive support of the work to rebuild Galveston and much of Houston.
1901 The automobile arrives on Houston streets creating a future need in church ministries as the city spreads out. Since then, the First family has helped start other Methodist churches throughout the Houston area.
1906 Members of the church form a city-wide ministry which later becomes known as Wesley Community Center. Wesley is now supported by many churches and ministers to those in need throughout Harris County.
1907 - 1940
First Methodist Moves to Main and Clay
1907 Our church property is sold and the congregation meets in Alabambra Hall and Beach's Auditorium until late 1910.
1908 We use printed bulletins for the first time.
1908 Two corner lots at Main and Clay (our present location) are purchased. One trustee resigns that the property is "too far out of town".
1909 We change our name from Shearn Memorial Methodist to First Methodist Episcopal Church South.
1910 Construction is completed on the new (and current) Downtown sanctuary. The first worship service is held on December 18, 1910. Membership totals 1,200.
1924 Our first live worship broadcast on radio.
1928 Construction begins on the seven-story education building. It is designed so that it could be turned into an office buiding should such prove to be necessary or desirable.
1931 The first edition of the First Methodist Houston Times is published.
1940 First Methodist expands to two Sunday services.
1941 - 1995
Reaching Beyond Main and Clay Through Television and a Second Campus
1951 The sanctuary is remodeled to accommodate air conditioning!
1956 First live television broadcast. Our Sunday morning televised worship is the longest-running television program in the nation with a viewing audience each week in over 60,000 homes.
1959 The Quillian Center, named after Rev.Paul Quillian, is opened in the Alief area for ministry to the church and community. It is relocated to the Westchase campus in the 1990's in order to bring together the various recreation ministries of the church to better serve the western part of the city.
1963 Members of the First family begin Clarewood House Retirement Home. In addition, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration opens in Houston. Since then, a number of our volunteers in First Choice Media Ministry have been communications and electronics staff from NASA.
1983 On December 27, a fire destroys part of the current sanctuary, chapel, and organ. The restoration project is completed in 1985.
1993 The Westchase congregation begins holding Sunday services in January at Paul Revere Middle School. The congregation rotates, often at a minute's notice, between Paul Revere and the Adam's Mark Hotel. That same year, we acquire two office/warehouse buildings directly across from the original 27-acre parcel at Westchase. Renovation is begun on the larger of the two buildings to accommodate temporary worship services and program space.
1994 Teams of walkers carry a flame from the altar of the Downtown church to the Westchase facility on June 4, to commemorate the first services held at the temporary Westchase worship center. Construction begins on the first permanent buildings on the Westchase site.
1995 On February 5, the cafetorium, now known as the Stansbury Fellowship Hall, is dedicated and ready for service when Wesley Academy opens in fall 1995 serving pre-K to second grade.
1996 - 2004
Spreading the Gospel Through a Second Campus, a School, and Recreation
1996 The second permanent facility at the Westchase campus, the Quillian Recreation Center, is completed.
1997 Temporary buildings are erected to handle growth of the Wesley Academy and the Westchase congregation. A fundraising drive for the new Worship Center at Westchase is successful in just 28 days.
1998 Members of the First family begin Christian Alliance, a ministry for disaster relief anywhere in the world supported by churches and individuals throughout the city.
1999 Westchase Worship Center opens with a standing room only crowd of more than 2,600 worshippers.
2001 Following in the tradition of outstanding pastoral leaders such as A. Frank Smith, Paul Quillian, Kenneth Pope, Charles Allen, and William Hinson, Dr. Stephen Wende is appointed Senior Pastor at First Methodist. He is the 49th senior pastor in the congregation's history.
2004 Our P.O.R.T. ministry to students and their families in the predominately Hispanic neighborhood of Port Houston is incorporated as Neighbors In Action.
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