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IN 1853, ITINERANT PASTOR JOHN WESLEY CHALK RODE HORSEBACK THROUGHOUT TARRANT COUNTY, PREACHING IN HOUSES AND PUBLIC SPACES. THE FORT WORTH CIRCUIT’S MEMBERSHIP HAD GROWN TO MORE THAN 450 PEOPLE BY 1873, AND A LOT WAS PURCHASED AT 4TH AND JONES STREETS FOR THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH BUILDING IN FORT WORTH. CONSTRUCTION ON THE FRAME STRUCTURE KNOWN AS FOURTH STREET METHODIST BEGAN ON MAY 15, 1874. MEMBERSHIP OUTGREW THE BUILDING, AND IN 1887, IT WAS REPLACED BY A SINGLE-STORY BRICK EDIFICE. IN 1908, THE CONGREGATION, WHO BY THIS TIME WAS KNOWN AS FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH, MOVED INTO A LARGER BUILDING ON 7TH AND TAYLOR STREETS, HOLDING ITS FORMAL OPENING ON MAR. 8, 1908 IN ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE CHURCH BUILDINGS IN NORTH TEXAS. THE PROPERTY WAS SOLD IN 1928 AND LAND WAS SUBSEQUENTLY PURCHASED AT 800 WEST 5TH STREET. PLANS FOR THE BUILDING WERE DRAWN BY W.G. CLARKSON AND COMPANY, ARCHITECTS, AND ON OCT. 29, 1929, THE DAY OF THE WORST STOCK MARKET CRASH IN U.S. HISTORY, GROUND WAS OFFICIALLY BROKEN FOR THE NEW CHURCH. ON OCT. 30, 1930, MEMBERS LOCKED THE DOORS OF THE OLD CHURCH AND WALKED TOGETHER TO THE NEW BUILDING. THE CHURCH IS A GOTHIC REVIVAL BUILDING, INSPIRED BY THE NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL IN PARIS, FRANCE, WITH A TRIPLE PORTAL ENTRANCE, PIER BUTTRESSES ON THE UNEVEN CORNER TOWERS, TALL STAINED GLASS LANCET WINDOWS, MARBLE-FILLED ARCHES ON THE FRONT FAÇADE, AND A THREE-STORY ARRANGEMENT. THE CHURCH’S MISSION TO BE GOD’S PEOPLE IN THE WORLD IS EXEMPLIFIED IN ITS NUMEROUS PROGRAMS INCLUDING OUTREACH TO THE CITY’S HOMELESS CITIZENS SINCE THE EARLY 1950s AND THE FUMC TELEVISION MINISTRY WHICH BEGAN WEEKLY BROADCASTS IN MARCH 1975. |
