Clay County, TXGenWeb Project
HISTORY OF PETROLIA UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
Lucille Glasgow- November,
2008
When oil was first discovered
in North Texas, in north Clay County, in 1901 on Mr. J.
W. Lochridge's farm while he was drilling for
water for his livestock during a hot
dry August, there was no such place as Petrolia or Byers. As
the news of "black gold"
spread, fortune hunters and workers arrived; a tent
city called Oil City housed the
boom. In 1904, the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railroad
came through to the present-
day Byers, and later, on to Waurika.
Oil City folks picked up and moved about two
miles northwest to the present location
of the town and named it Petrolia after
Petrolea, Pennsylvania, where oil was first discovered in the
United States.
In 1906, the Baptists in Petrolia started to build a church
about two blocks west of
the present structure. While the building was under construction,
a storm practically
destroyed it. Building was not resumed until the fall of
1907. It was built with the
understanding that it was to be
used as a community church, with the Baptists
occupying it two Sundays, the Presbyterians one Sunday and the
Methodists one Sunday.
The Petrolia church was at the time part of the Benvanue
Circuit. A pastor, Rev. A.
P. Johnson, was appointed in November
1907, so this could be considered
its
beginning, but it wasn't until September, 1908, that the
37 charter members were put
on the roll. That day eleven people were baptized and 39 took
vows of membership. The old records now extant are
very brittle, almost illegible, very disorganized and
contain many discrepancies.
In 1910, with C.P. Martin as pastor,
a great revival was experienced under the
preaching of Rev. R. E. Porter, who later
was appointed pastor of Petrolia in the
1950's. The Methodists wanted their own building. Through
the efforts of Jim Taylor,
a land man for George Byers, the owner of some
22,000acres in the vicinity who had
given the land for the streets and cemeteries in Petrolia and
Byers, a lot was bought
for the building of a church. Lumber
was bought for $36,000 from Lyon-Gray Lumber
Company. The note was held for
several years by the Continental State Bank
of
Petrolia. When Rev. Martin left in 1912, there were 151 members
in the church.
Who were these people who felt a need for a church building
to be a house of worship
of our Lord, a place to congregate in fellowship, a place
to pray and sing together,
a place to meet to share joys and sorrows, to support each other
in Christian love, a
place to be empowered with the Holy Spirit to go beyond
these walls to invite others
and to minister to the community?
They were the ancestors of many of you or your
friends - ordinary citizens who had
come from other places to find
a way of making a living as farmers, oil field
workers, mechanics, teachers, merchants and many others
They had the same dreams and aspirations for their
families as you do for yours. Just as these pioneers had
the faith to establish a congregation and a church home, all
of us and those who came
before us have had the faith to carry on our Christian
witness in this community for
these last 100 years.
The old church records, brittle and
disorganized, list names and dates with many
discrepancies and blanks. I'll blame
them for some of the disorganization
and
vagueness in this narrative. What they
don't show are the stories of the people,
their ordinary lives that all add up to the real strength of
a congregation, to their
love of God and to their willingness to sacrifice to maintain
this church during hard
times as well as good ones. We all know the church
is the people, not the building,
but it is easier to record facts about a tangible
building than about an unwavering
faith in God's providence.
The building was remodeled in 1915
when Rev. W.D. Sauls was pastor. The front
entrance originally faced east, with a large open porch across
the front.
Another great revival occurred in 1927 when Rev. George Slagle
was pastor and Rev. E.
H. Coburn did the preaching. On April
27, 1927, thirty-nine members were received
into the church. In 1928, while Rev. Lee Stanford was pastor,
the church building was
again remodeled. It was at this
time the balcony was built, the interior
was
rearranged, and the walls and ceiling redecorated. The
altar area was moved from the
south to the west side of the sanctuary and the entrance was
on the north side. M. A.
Moon and his son, Marion Moon, had this contract.
In the year 1951 when Rev. Harmon Keelin was pastor,
the building was badly in need
of paint and repair. Since the church was low on
funds, they decided the work could
not be done at that time, but
the young people called for volunteers to work at
night; both young and old responded. There was hardly a night
that you could not find
someone at the church working. The
building was painted both inside and out, the
floors sanded and varnished, and the pews varnished. The
ladies all raised the money
and had the old clear glass windows replaced
with frosted glass. The young people
raised money for carpet runners and laid them. When all
was finished, the church was
very proud of the young people and their efforts of behalf of
the church.
In 1955, when Rev. William Robinson
was pastor, he asked the church to let him
install a dossal curtain over the window behind the pulpit.
He contributed the labor
and the young people raised the money
for the material. This added greatly to the
appearance of the church.
With the decline in attendance and finances
by 1956, the congregations at Petrolia
and Byers were combined into one
charge with Rev. Weaver as pastor living in the
parsonage at Byers. Ways and means for building a kitchen onto
the church in Petrolia
were discussed but thought impossible
because of lack of funds. However, at an
official board meeting in the early
spring of 1957, a building committee
was
appointed to raise money and work out plans for erecting
a kitchen. H.W. Perkins was
chairman, with Wayne Glasgow, Alvin Kafer,
Mrs. Ray Stine, and Mrs. Lee Weatherall
committee members. Plans were made and each member was asked
for a donation of either
labor or money. In May the kitchen was finished
and two rest rooms also, all for a
cost of $2000.
The sanctuary was sheet rocked and painted. The ladies did the
finishing and cleaning
and added new curtains. We had learned to say "We can"
instead of "We can't."
In June, 1958, Rev. W.M. Johnson came to us as our pastor.
We felt we were fortunate
to have this fine young preacher
to serve our church. On October 12, 1958, the
Petrolia Methodist Church observed its
fiftieth anniversary with a homecoming of
former pastors and members. Over 200 people were present
for the services and lunch.
A wonderful time of remembrance and praises to the
good Lord was enjoyed by all. By
the time Rev. Johnson left in 1960, 20 new members had joined
the church.
In May, 1960, Rev. Millard Fairchild
came as pastor followed by Rev. Walter Lynn
Zimmerman in 1960. We all fell in love with
Walter and Joan and little Deborah. He
was good with the youth and great with his "chalk
talks" to illustrate his sermons.
His leadership on a camping trip
to the Wichita Mountains is still remembered by
many. After four years serving jointly at Byers
and Petrolia, he was promoted to a
larger church and eventually became a District
Superintendent before he retired in
2008. It was with sad hearts that we heard his last
sermon on May 30. All eyes were
dimmed with tears as we sang, "Blest Be the Tie that Binds."
Rev. Rex Carleton was sent to us
in 1965. He was a sincere man of God and a good
preacher, loved by the Methodists and the community in general.
In 1966 the church got busy and
worked to raise money to remodel and repair the
building once more. The ladies made $165 from
a chicken spaghetti dinner; everyone
pitched in with donations and work.
Al Kafer donated his labor to install the
paneling that still covers our walls. The painting and repairing
cost $700.
In February, 1966, Rev. Carleton was attending a preachers'
conference in Dallas and
was struck by an automobile while crossing a street. He spent
eight weeks in Parkland
Hospital and returned with a slight limp and
several braces. Everyone was happy to
have him back but he was moved to Floral Heights as associate
pastor in October.
Norman Williams, a student pastor from
S.M.U. next filled our pulpit and that of
Byers. He, his wife and four little girls would come on Saturday
afternoon and return
to Dallas on Sunday afternoon. In 1969
he accepted an appointment in the state of
Washington.
In June, 1969, Petrolia Methodists were happy
to know they would have a pastor and
his wife living in the Petrolia parsonage again. Rev. Norman
Bruner and his wife Nell
stayed one year before moving to Scotland UMC in Wichita Falls.
In June, 1970, Rev. Johnnie Haney and his wonderful
family were sent to serve Byers
and Petrolia churches. He was a hometown boy, having grown up
in Byers, and everybody
loved him. He worked to improve
the parsonage in Byers that was designated the
permanent parsonage for both churches.
Rev. Wilma "Robbie" Corse became the first woman pastor
of the Byers-Petrolia charge.
Work on the parsonage was continued
and before many months had passed, we had a
pastor in residence once more. "Robbie"
remained with us from December 1972 until
June 1976. She plunged into the work of both churches immediately,
becoming involved
in the organization of youth activities,
visiting the sick and the shut-in's,
counseling, and taking part in community affairs
generally. During this period, an
effort was made to update the membership roll. Ten new members
joined the church.
As usual, the roof on the church kitchen continued to leak,
even after a new one was
installed by a contractor. More improvements
were made on the charge parsonage at
Byers in order to bring it up to standard. Petrolia
Church considered selling their
former parsonage but decided to rent
it and use the money for part of Petrolia's
share of the upkeep of the charge parsonage. Programs begun
or continued during Rev.
Corse's term as pastor included family night,
skating parties, Holy Week services,
children's hour story-telling, weekly Bible
study night, covered dish suppers,
Christmas parties, and Vacation Bible
School. We regretted losing her to a larger
church but were happy to see her advance to a wider field.
Next, Rev. Craig Watson came to us from Georgia
and served while he was a graduate
student at Perkins, from June 1976 to June 1977.
he lived in the parsonage on week-
ends and during vacations. He was
a talented musician and did much to infuse our
worship services with varying types of musical experiences.
His "children's" sermons
each Sunday were inspiring to the adults as well. He was a blessing
to our church and
the feeling of warm Christian fellowship continued to be
felt. One new member joined
us.
Rev. Steve Clinton came from Florida
to be our pastor in 1977 while attending
Perkins. Before he had been here a week, he had visited
every member. He visited the
nursing homes and hospitals once or twice a week,
a practice that gained him and us
many friends among the people of Clay County.
Rev. Clinton started taping every worship service to take
to shut-in's. He led us in
a Chrismon and candle lighting service at Christmas,
and Maundy Thursday Seder meal
and Good Friday Tenebrae services at Easter.
An Easter sunrise service was held on
the hill in Bob Brown's pasture, with the Alphas and Boy
Scouts assisting. There was
even a piano lugged out for Myrtice Moon to play.
The young people were organized into the Alpha Group and
met at the church on Sunday
evenings for singing, recreation, and
refreshments. They provided us with many
beautiful special songs for Sunday morning
services. Rev. Clinton was assisted by
John Horany, and later Tom Gunter was
employed as Youth Minister for a stepped-up
program of activities. Mrs. Myrtice
Moon, our long-time pianist, cheerfully
accompanied. They also enjoyed many fun
times -swimming, skating, hayrides, camp-
outs, and dances.
One highlight was their participation in the Pioneer
Reunion parade in Henrietta as
an old fashioned congregation with pews and
a piano loaded onto a trailer. Myrtice
Moon played the piano and the youth sang as they
rode along in the parade. Entitled
"Wesley and His Music," it won first place.
Rev. Clinton taught a course in
Methodist beliefs and the Wednesday night Bible
Study, led by Lucille Glasgow, continued in various people's
homes but most often in
that of Betty and Bob Brown. Family
night suppers continued to alternate between
Byers and Petrolia churches with a
great spirit of brotherhood and co-operation
existing. The Petrolia Church adopted
the Henderson family as their missionary
project. They were located in Puebla,
a village south of Mexico City, and were
engaged in training people in farming and in raising rabbits
and heifers.
During the Clintons' stay, a room was built onto the parsonage
(located at Byers) to
house the washer, dryer and water heater, with both churches
sharing the cost.
One of the biggest ventures this church undertook in recent years
was the addition of
vinyl siding to the building and the replacement of the
windows in the sanctuary. In
order to do this, $3000 was borrowed from the bank in the fall
of 1977. That work was
soon finished; then came the extra repair and refinishing
jobs that the members took
care of. The lobby was redecorated with the
removal of the bell tower where it had
been impossible to stop leaks when
it rained, the kitchen was refinished,
a
completely new roof was put on
the kitchen, the bathrooms were worked over, and
everything that needed it was painted. The
loan was repaid long before it came due
because of the dedication and work of every
member. A couple of successful rummage
sales helped complete the task. We celebrated the repayment
of the bank loan with an
ice cream supper.
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