McMahan Chapel was established as a Methodist religious society in September 1833. It is served as a Methodist Church continuously ever since.
From the United Methodist Archives and History website: (
visit link)
"McMahan Chapel
San Augustine, Texas
Heritage Landmark of The United Methodist Church
Just over the border from Louisiana stands McMahan Chapel, the oldest Protestant church with a continuous history in Texas. In 1831, when Samuel Doak McMahan (1789-1854) emigrated to Texas from Tennessee, that area was the San Augustine Municipality of the Mexican Government, and Protestant preaching was illegal.
The following year, Methodist preacher James P. Stevenson was appointed to the Sabine Circuit in Louisiana, a few miles east of McMahan's home. Stevenson was asked by some Texans to come over the border and preach for them; after being assured of his safety from possible arrest, Stevenson came and held services. McMahan attended the services and then invited Stevenson to come and preach in his home, too.
Stevenson preached at McMahan's home several times; he also held a camp meeting on McMahan's property. In September 1833, Stevenson organized a "religious society" since it was illegal to organize a church.
The Society had at least twenty charter members, including McMahan and his wife and four of their children and spouses. McMahan was named class leader and in 1837 was licensed as a local preacher.
After the Texas War of Independence in 1836, Protestant preaching was no longer illegal, and the little congregation grew as more and more white settlers moved to Texas. In December 1837 Littleton Fowler (1802-1846) was sent as a Methodist missionary to Texas. He was named Presiding Elder (now District Superintendent) of the Texas Mission District and built his home (and district headquarters) near Samuel McMahan's house.
Some months later, the McMahan congregation built its first house of worship, a pine log chapel forty by thirty feet. Littleton Fowler served as the church's first pastor. He died in 1846 and was buried beneath the pulpit, as he had requested.
The log chapel was replaced by a frame church in 1872, which was in turn replaced by a new building in 1900. The present structure, a brick church, was built in 1949 and is the fourth building on the site.
The nearby cemetery contains the remains of Samuel D. McMahan and other early Texas Methodists.
Points of interest at this Heritage Landmark: McMahan Chapel is on a fifteen acre site. The present chapel is the fourth on the same location and is notable for its stained glass windows and the furnishings, all of which memorialize early Texas Methodists. Littleton Fowler's tombstone can be seen in the pulpit area.
In 2002, the Jack & Charlsie Maund Museum/Events Center was dedicated. The museum commemorates Methodism's first presence in Texas and honors the clergy and laity who have served McMahan Chapel. The Events Center is a popular place for confirmation classes, wedding receptions, family reunions, etc.
Littleton Fowler State Park is across the road, and next to the park is McMahan Chapel Cemetery which dates from before 1833 and is on the Old Spanish Trail (El Camino Real-The King's Highway). The cemetery has been charted and mapped with a guide to graves available just inside the gate into the cemetery.
Contributions to McMahan Chapel United Methodist Church can be made by contacting Sandy Newman (see address below). Worship services are held every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
Special events: McMahan Chapel Day is celebrated each year on the second Saturday in October. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., it is a day-long event with hymn sings and preaching, and is followed by a covered dish dinner in the Events Center."
There are 2 state historic markers relating to McMahan Chapel, both erected during the state's Centennial in 1936. One marker is located at the State Highway 21 at the junction with McMahan Chapel Road. The other is located in front of McMahan Cemetery. Both have been waymarked.
A United Methodist Historic Landmark marker was added in 1991. This marker stands at the church itself, and reads as follows:
United Methodist Historic Landmark
No. 3
Man Chapel was established in September 1833 as a Methodist class by the Rev. James P. Stephenson in the home of Col. Samuel Doak McMahan. In order to comply with Mexican law, the 48 members were organized as a class. Upon Texas independence from Mexico, the "class" officially became a church and is had a continuous ministry.
The Reverend Littleton Fowler, early Texas missionary, bait his home nearby and at his request was buried under the pulpit of the first dirt-floor building. Each subsequent building has maintained this tradition.
1991"
The state marker at the Cemetery reads:
"McMAHAN CHAPEL
The oldest Methodist church having a continuous existence in Texas. Organized as a "religious society," 1833, at the home of Colonel Samuel McMahan by the Rev. James P. Stevenson (1808-1885). As a Methodist Church, July 1834, by the Rev. Henry Stephenson. First building was completed in 1839 by the Rev. Littleton Fowler and given the name of McMahan's Chapel. Displaced by a new building in 1872 and again in 1900.
Erected by the State of Texas
1936"