First United Methodist Church

San Marcos, a central Texas city in Hays County, was named for its location on the headwaters of the San Marcos River. In 1851 William Lindsey, Ed Burleson, and Eli T. Merriman bought the Juan Martin Veramendi land grant of 1831 and laid out the town of San Marcos to serve the people who had begun to settle the area in the late 1840s. The historical background of the First United Methodist Church begins with the founding of the settlement at San Marcos. Many early settlers and town leaders were also responsible for founding the church. One of the first settlers, John D. Pitts, had accompanied General Edward Burleson to the headwaters of the San Marcos River in 1847 and was so impressed with the surroundings that he decided to move his family to the newly formed settlement. Born in 1798, Pitts grew up in Georgia and married Eliza Davis in 1819.
After serving one term in the Georgia legislature, Pitts decided to move his family to Texas in 1842. They settled first on an Austin County farm, then moved to Grimes County. In 1846 Pitts served as clerk of the first Legislature of the new State of Texas. It was during his term as clerk that he became enchanted with the area along the San Marcos River. In 1847, only a few months after settling in what is now San Marcos, Pitts organized the first Methodist church in his cabin and invited his friend, Reverend Alfred B. F. Kerr to come from Seguin to preach to them.
Governor George T. Wood appointed Pitts Adjutant-General in 1848 and for the next two years, he and his family lived in Austin. The church, however, met in the Pitts cabin until a new structure was built in 1849.

Charter members of the first Methodist church included several members of the John D. Pitts family--their daughter, two brothers, and a sister-in-law--who had joined them in settling San Marcos. In addition, Michael Sessom, one of the earliest San Marcos residents, joined in founding the new church. Sessom had come to the area in 1835 with Henry McCulloch's Texas Ranger detachment and he and his wife had built the second home in the new town. He worked, thereafter, as the town blacksmith. Two other founders, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McGehee, had moved to the area in 1846 and established the first farm in what is now Hays County.

The founding of Methodism was scarcely a decade old in Texas when the San Marcos congregation was formed. The scattered congregations were served by itinerant ministers over widely separated areas, thus San Marcos did not have a permanent minister until 1872 when San Marcos has designated the headquarters for a new district in the conference. The founding minister of the San Marcos congregation in 1847 was 24-year-old Alfred B. F. Kerr who served for two years at Seguin, Matagorda, Goliad, Rutersville, and San Marcos. In 1849 he was appointed to a new position and left the city. Due to health reasons Kerr was later forced to give up the ministry and returned to San Marcos in 1876. With the incorporation of San Marcos in 1877, the popular Alfred Kerr was elected the first mayor and held that position until he died in 1881.

Another famous member of the San Marcos Methodist Church was Edward Burleson. Born in North Carolina in 1793, Burleson moved to Texas with his wife in 1830 and settled near Bastrop. By 1833 he was selected as a delegate to the Convention at San Felipe, in 1835 he was elected to succeed Stephen F. Austin as Colonel of the only regiment organized under Austin, and he fought in the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Thereafter, Burleson was active in political affairs during the Republic years and early Statehood by serving as Vice President of the Texas Republic from 1841-1844, running unsuccessfully for President in 1844, and then participating as State Senator from 1846 until he died in 1851. Burleson and his family settled in San Marcos in 1848 at which time he joined the Methodist church.

For two years services were held at monthly intervals in John Pitts' cabin. From 1849-1855 the congregation moved to a small log house that served as a school, church, courthouse, and community hall. In 1855 the Methodists and Masonic Order raised a two-story building for their joint use at the corner of Hutchison and Fredericksburg St. where the present structure stands.
The combination church and lodge burned in 1868, so the congregation met in the chapel of a nearby private school, the Coronal Institute, for the next four years. A red brick structure was built on the same corner in 1872 and Captain William Sawshe donated a church bell, which hangs today in the tower of the sanctuary. Due to poor construction, the crumbling walls were torn down in 1891 and the congregation returned once again to the Coronal Institute chapel. The present frame Victorian Gothic structure was completed in 1893 and has served the San Marcos Methodist Church congregation since that time. Following the nationwide unification of Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches, the San Marcos unit renamed their church the First United Methodist Church of San Marcos.

The First United Methodist Church was founded simultaneously with the establishment of San Marcos. As it was the first church organized in Hays County, the congregation feels a close link with the heritage of their city. In addition, this 1893 Gothic Revival structure is a fine example of local nineteenth-century architecture in San Marcos.