Loss of the Steamboat BLACK CLOUD -- Liberty TX
N 30° 03.628 W 094° 47.758
15R E 326873 N 3326845
When the Steamboat BLACK CLOUD sank in the always treacherous Trinity River in 1873, townsfolk salvaged the bell for use in the local Methodist Church.
Waymark Code: WMVERD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2017
Views: 2
Boat and steamship navigation on the Trinity River was prevalent in the 19th century, and so were wrecks.
The side-wheel Steamboat BLACK CLOUD was built in 1864 in Orange Texas (about 80 miles away), and sank in the treacherous shoals of the Trinity River near Liberty TX in 1873. After the wreck was abandoned, enterprising members of the First Methodist Church of Liberty salvaged the ship's bell to be re-purposed to call the Methodist faithful to worship.
The BLACK CLOUD eventually sank into the silt and was forgotten until 1965, when she was rediscovered by a company laying a natural gas pipeline across the Trinity river. Students from The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (aka Texas A&M) and archaeologists surveyed and excavated her in 1978. See: (
visit link)
A state historic marker preserved the memory of the BLACK CLOUD'S fate, and the connection between a doomed steamship and a thriving Methodist Church as follows:
"LIBERTY METHODIST CHURCH
Late in 1840, the Rev. Hugh Fields, migrating to Texas from Mississippi, preached the first Methodist sermon in Liberty in the log courthouse. Liberty was one of 17 communities in the Republic of Texas to receive a ministerial appointment from the newly organized Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church meeting in Dec. 1840. The Rev. John C. Woolam was named in the spring of 1841 to serve this congregation, the oldest church organization in Liberty County.
Members worshiped at the Courthouse, in home or brush arbors until 1846, when they built a log church. After it was destroyed by a storm, the congregation moved to its present location and built a one-room frame structure in 1854. The church acquired a bell in 1873 from the steamboat "Black Cloud", which sank in the Trinity River. This bell is still in use. In 1904 a new two-room frame edifice was constructed. It was replaced in 1930 by a two-story brick structure, which became an education building after a new sanctuary was erected in 1953.
This congregation participates in many community events, including the "Brotherhood Banquet", sponsored by the men's Bible class since 1927 and supported by persons of all faiths. (1973)"
Hook 'em Horns