Brazos Past: Mooreville church celebrating 100 years in present-day sanctuary - Mooreville, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 18.120 W 097° 08.501
14R E 676859 N 3464562
Mooreville United Methodist Church, a congregation that took root about 20 miles southeast of downtown Waco just after the Civil War, will celebrate the endurance of its belief and the integrity of its century-old sanctuary with a laudatory luncheon.
Waymark Code: WMWHAE
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/06/2017
Views: 3
Waco Trib
Ann Phelps, a lifelong member and church historian, said the building at 206 Farm-to-Market Road 2643 in Falls County is the legacy of the founders — 18 charter members who saw the need for fellowship in the rural burg.
Sunday’s celebration of the faith of the founders will include remarks by five of its former pastors and its current shepherd, the Rev. Lynn Starnes.
Methodists living in the Mooreville area, about three miles west of Chilton, gathered for worship services as early as 1866. The following year, the Rev. Howell L. Taylor assisted the group in formally establishing a Methodist Church congregation.
Named the Mooreville Methodist Episcopal Church South, the congregation had 18 charter members. Early worship services were held two miles southeast of its current site, on the farm of George W. Bowman (1844-1917).
By 1874, the congregation had completed its first church structure, built on land donated by Edward G. Hanrick.
Services at Mooreville were held in the first sanctuary until 1882, when the congregation built its second church at the current site on land donated by Edward McCullough.
In 1911, work commenced on the structure Mooreville members still call their church home — an eclectic, wood-frame worship hall reflecting many architectural styles. Prominent features include a Queen Ann-style shingled bell tower, a bungalow-style skirt wall foundation and bracketing, and Beaux Arts-style arched windows, Phelps said.