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The heritage of Bellville Methodist Church dates to 1822, when Thomas B. Bell came to Texas from Florida with Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. He settled in an area west of the Brazos River, and donated fifty acres of land between Piney and Caney Creeks to be used for a church and camp meetings. When Methodist missionary Henry Stephenson arrived in Texas in 1834, he found plans underway for a camp meeting. At an 1835 meeting, future Alamo hero William Barret Travis was a featured speaker, and promised to assist in the effort to bring Methodist preachers to Texas. Missionary Robert Alexander conducted services at the Caney Creek camp meeting site in August 1839. Methodists continued to use the campground for worship services until the early 1880s, when the land was sold. Funds from the sale were used to build a German Methodist Episcopal Church in Bellville in 1882. The building was used by German and English speaking congregations on alternate Sundays. The Methodist Episcopal Church, south, was organized in 1886, and a new sanctuary was completed on this site that year. The Rev. J.P. Childers served as the first minister. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 |
