February 23, 2017 - The monthly meeting for the Shelby County Museum was held Tuesday, February 21, 2017. The meeting was held at the Shelbyville Methodist Church. Opening prayer was given by Teddy Hopkins and the pledges to the flags were led by Ann Bowen. Ann then presented the speaker for the program, Merle Howard, who would give a history on the historical Methodist Church.
Merle then introduce Buster Bounds, County Historian, who was videoing the program, and introduced the Methodist Church pastor, Sherry Harding. Merle stated much of the history of the church had been compiled by Juanice Powell.
The church is in the Eastern District of Texas Conference and all the architectural elements of the building points up to our Heavenly Father, the gothic windows, high pitched room, the steeple, and the pews hand made by architect, J.M. Pigg. The present building was built in 1897 after a storm destroyed the original building.
The men of the church cut cypress trees in the Sabine River bottom which were then hauled by mule drawn wagons. These trees were cut into 18-inch blocks from which shingles were cut to roof the building by using a drawing knife. The roof and steeple were braced with enough timber, it was said, to build a house.
The finial on the steeple was made from the end of a large timber which extends downward into the steeple, some eight or 10 feet.
Lightning struck the steeple in 1973 and again in 1985. After this the steeple was top with copper to help prevent future strikes.
In the 1970s the rails surrounding the altar and pulpit were redone. Until that time there was only one pulpit and it stood in the center of the floor. A new pulpit was built to match the original by John Doggett. Mr. Doggett and John Howard rearranged the rails as they are now.
The original flooring was replaced under the direction of James Powell. The flooring was laid from ash, hickory, maple, oak, persimmon, sassafras, and walnut timbers and was left unstained after it was recently refinished.
In 2009 the foundation of the steeple was found to be in a weakened state. As the bell in the steeple weights nearly 1,000 pounds the bell wasn’t rung for nearly a year. After the steeple foundation was repaired the bell now rings in each Sunday morning service.
In 2013 the painting “Easter Morn” by Fredrick W. Cole of Canterbury, England was cleaned. The painting was presented to the church by N.O. Thomas in the 1970s. It took Beth Crafts over a year to clean the painting.
Ms Howard shared with the group that no church would be complete without the faithful members dedicated to the history and restoration of the building.
The Shelbyville Methodist Church of Shelbyville claims that it was organized in 1825. Tradition holds the first church service held in Shelbyville was in 1825 by “Brother” James English. Another early preacher was Henry Stevenson who was there from 1834-1836. William C. Crawford came in 1836 and added 200 souls to the membership of the church.
Teachers had a great part in the formation of the early church. A young lady from New York answered an ad for a teaching position in Melrose, Texas. This was the future wife of W.C. Huntington, Mary. She helped organize the first Sunday school program, the Women’s Society, and the Juvenile Society which was the forerunner to the Methodist Youth Fellowship program. Mr. Huntington died in 1864 leaving Mary with 2 sons. Mary Huntington died in 1911 and her portrait is in the history room of the church.
