Brown Ranch
Methodist Church
Fisk, Texas
by Lena Adian
from A
History of Coleman County and Its People,
1985
edited by
Judia and Ralph Terry, and Vena Bob Gates -
used by permission
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The exact date the Brown Ranch Methodist
Church was organized is unknown. It is believed to
have been the summer of 1905, under a brush arbor
on the W. I. Roper place. It is said a meeting was
held and that there was also a large oak tree,
though most people can hardly imagine an oak tree
at Fisk. Both the Baptist and Methodist churches
were organized from the meeting.
The land
for the church was deeded by Mr. A. J. McDonald on
October 19, 1906. Several men gave donations of
cash and men in the community built the church.
The exact date when the church disbanded is not
known, but believed to be about 1930. The church
building was given to Brown Ranch school and was
used as an auditorium as long as there was a
school at Brown Ranch. It was used for school and
community plays and was also understood to be a
good place to skate. Ladies in the community used
it to can food for Brown Ranch school in the late
thirties and early forties. It was also a roomy
place to make mattresses under a government
program which made use of the cotton.
The
Church of Christ used the building the first year
they had a church organized, as did the Primitive
Baptist Church in later years.
Flonine
Miller has provided the Sunday school roll for
1926, listing Mrs. J. J. Vardeman as teacher.
Those known to have attended the Methodist Church
through the twenty-five years it existed were:
Mrs. J. J. Vardeman, Minnie and Jerry, Mn. and
Mrs. W. T. Roper, Mn. and Mrs. Joe Roper, Mr. and
Mrs. D. F. Burns, Mn. and Mrs. David Lindeman, the
J. A. Harris family, the Manly Miller family, the
John Chandler family, the Stamnes family, the Jim
A. Watkins family, Mrs. Jean Miller, Ovie Owens
Whitfield, and Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Larance and
family.
Brown Ranch Methodist Church