Site of Bruceville Methodist Church

According to local tradition this congregation traces its beginning to the Cedar Bridge Methodist Church, which held services just prior to the Civil War in a sanctuary near a cedar bridge constructed by pioneer settler E.T. Cox. Members of Cedar Bridge Methodist reportedly organized a Methodist church in nearby Mastersville in 1863. Local tradition claims the 1863 Mastersville Methodist Church is the parent church of Bruceville Methodist Church. The earliest record of Mastersville Methodist is an 1865 notice of Rev. J.L. Crabb's selection as pastor. Soon after the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad extended its track through here in 1881 many of Mastersville's citizens and businesses moved to be near railroad. The town which developed was officially named Bruceville with the granting of a post office in 1887. It was named for Dr. Lucien N. Bruce, on whose land the railroad depot was built. The first Bruceville Methodist Church sanctuary was built sometime during the 1880s. A new church building, erected at this site in 1895, served the congregation until 1983 when Bruceville Methodist Church merged with the nearby Eddy Methodist Church. The Bruceville Methodist Church building was later razed.