From old post card

Not sure of the source of this material - was in a collection of typed histories

It appears to have been written about 1934

In the fall of 1880 Rev. F. O. Miller was appointed to the Henrietta Mission, and his mission included a part of Wichita County. There were then but two or three families living near the present location of Wichita Falls. The residences and stores as well were in dugouts. In March 1881, Rev. F. O. Miller collected six Methodists as follows: Alfred H. Harris, Mrs. Mary E. Harris, Miss Mary C. Harris, T. J. Williams, Edna Williams, and Mary Williams, all from Dallas, and effected the first church organization in Wichita Falls. The first meeting was held and the organization completed in Harris House, a house that still stands on the corner of Fifth and Lee Streets.

Those were times that tried men's souls. During the year 1881 the people were very poor and the preacher was getting nothing for his support. He took his family back east to some friends and then returned to suffer with his people rather than abandon the field of labor.

A Fourth Quarterly Conference report at the end of that year shows: Church members 57: Sunday School officers and teachers, 4: Pupils 25; Money expended for the Sunday School, $4.50; for the Presiding Elder, assessed $50.00, and paid $7.50 for Bishop's fund assessed $3.00 and paid $3.00; Preacher in charge assessed $200.00, paid $30.00; Total money raised for the year $45.00.

At first the meetings of the Methodist Church were held at the Harris House; then when the little log school house was completed, they met there for a while and later they met in the Court House.

In 1884 the Townsite Company gave the Church two lots on the corner of Tenth and Scott Streets, and in 1885 a Church building was erected at a cost of $300.00. Rev. S. C. Riddle served the Church from 1889 to 1891 and during that time the Church assumed the full support of the pastor and became a station. Also during this pastorate an addition was made to the Church, costing about $500.00. The first parsonage was a three roomed house on Holliday Creek. This house was later moved to a lot adjoining the Church.

A conference report in 1891, after ten years' growth, shows the following: Church members 239; Church building valued at $1,800.00 and parsonage valued at $1,200.00: Paid for pastor's salary $830.80: raised for all purposes $1416.80.

The North Texas Conference met in Wichita Falls in November, 1893, which was the first time it had ever met west of Gainsville. Bishop A. W. Wilson presided at the conference and there are many who remember his remarkable pulpit ability. At the Thanksgiving service he preached a sermon so remarkable in its power that at the conclusion a large number of the audience unconsciously arose and were standing upon their feet. The sessions of the conference were held in the district court room and large audiences attended.

Several additions were made to the Church property as the congregation grew, and in 1909 it was decided to sell the old property and buy elsewhere. The church and parsonage were sold for $8,500. Lots on the corner of Tenth and Lamar were bought for the Church, with adjoining lots on the Tenth Street side for the parsonage, total cost being $5,200. The Church was completed in 1910 at a cost of $34,000, and the parsonage at a cost of $5,000. The Chuch had a seating capacity of 1,000, a pipe organ, Sunday School rooms in the rear, and all conveniences. The basement was not at first completed, but was later finished and used for Sunday School rooms. The members, who on that Sunday morning in 1910, marched from the old Church building to the new edifice on the corner of Tenth and Lamar, thought that they had builded for the future, that their children' s children would still find this building plenty large, but they had not reckoned with the growth that comes with oil booms, and were to find within a few years that this building was wholly inadequate to meet the needs of the congregation.

In 1910 the North Texas Conference again held its annual session in Wichita Falls, this time in our new Church, with Bishop W. B. Murrah of Jackson, Mississippi, presiding. By that time the North Texas Conference comprised twenty-two counties which embraced 550 organized Churches, and 57,000 Church members. The city made elaborate preparations for entertaining her guests. Hundreds came, including many distinguished speakers.

In 1919 the annex to the main church was built at a cost of $18,000. At the close of 1919 the Floral Heights Church was organized with a fine group of about 100 people out of First Church.

The membership continued to grow until more room was needed. Three frame houses adjoining the Church on Lamar were purchased and used for Sunday School rooms. Mr. Frank Kell gave the Church a lot on Travis Street, and Mr. J. J. Perkins gave two lots; others were bought by the Church until the whole block became Church property with the exception of two lots in the southeast corner. In 1925 J. J. Perkins and wife bought the brick residence at 1312 Tenth Street and gave it to the Church for a parsonage, and after that the old parsonage near the Church was used for Sunday School rooms. Plans began to be formulated for a new Church building.

A beautiful new temple of worship was built on the corner of Travis and Tenth, and the first service was held September 23, 1928. This Church has, a seating capacity of 1,800 and is one of the most beautiful churches in southern Methodism. The Reuter Organ, which is one of the finest in the State, was given by J. J. Perkins, W. B. Hamilton, N. H. Martin, and C. W. Snider. The Tower Chimes were given by J. J. Perkins. The Cost of the Church was about $450,000.

In March, 1931, the property where the old Church stood was sold to the government for a federal building, and the money used to put up an up-to-date educational building. The Church and the Educational Building occupy the west one-half of the block, and the Federal Building occupies the east half, making one of the most imposing blocks in the city. The Church plant is valued at more than a half million dollars.

The Church membership is now about 2,200 and the average Sunday School attendance about 700.

There are six southern Methodist Churches in Wichita Falls; First Church, the down-town Church; Floral Heights, which serves a very large residential section; and four small Churches; Grant Street Methodist, Wilson Memorial Methodist, Scotland Methodist, and Adams Street Methodist, each of which serves a section of the city that is not reached by the larger Churches.

* * * * * * * *

Pastors who have served this Church:
	F.O. Miller	1881
	H.P. Shraeder	1832
	J.B. Proctor	1883
	T.E. Sherwood	1884
	J.W. Blackburn	1885
	M.M. Dunn	1886
	L.P. Smith	1887
	T.B. E1lis	1838
	J.L. Pierce	1889
	S.C. Riddle	1890-1
	F.O. Miller	1892-93
	G.F. Boyd	1894-95
	C.M. Threadgill	1896
	R. Gibbs Mood	1897-98
	J.P. Lowry	1899
	T.J. Beckham	l900-02
	J.G. Weaver	1903
	W.F. Bryan	1904
	J.W. Smith	1905
	W.A.. Stuckey	1906-07
	J.A. Stafford	1908
	W.T. Morrow	1909-10
	O.M. Bishop	1910
	O.T. Cooper	1911
	J.W. Hill	1912-14
	A.L. Andrews	l9l5-l6
	S.A. Barnes	1917-19
	H.D. Knickerbocker	1920-22
	C.M. Simpson	1923-24
	Walter Johnson	l925-26
	S.S. MeKenney	1927-32
	C.M. Raby	1922-34

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