First Church Building in Waco

Near this site about 1850, according to local tradition, worshipers gathered in a simple log house to hear Methodist Minister Joseph P. Sneed deliver a sermon. The house, long since removed, is considered the first Waco church building, and Sneed's followers are credited with founding Waco's first Methodist congregation. Sneed had previously served as an itinerant Methodist preacher with the Mississippi Conference in Lousiana and Arkansas. After 1851 he remained in Texas and died in Milam County in 1881. About 1851 the Methodists erected a frame church at Second and Jackson street (2 blocks SW), with Sneed as pastor. That building also served as a Sunday school and was later used by both Baptists and Presbyterians. In 1858 the Methodists built a brick church at Third and Franklin streets (three blocks west), no longer extant. The congregation moved services back to Second and Jackson streets in 1868 to meet in the new Waco Female College, a Methodist Institute. In 1879 these Methodists moved to an imposing new structure at Fifth and Jackson streets (five blocks SW). This congregation, known officially as First Methodist Church after 1919 and unofficially as the "Mother Church," moved in 1963 to 4901 Cobbs Drive.

First Church Building in Waco is a historical marker in Waco, McLennan County, dedicated in 1986. It is one of 198 historical markers documented in McLennan County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 224 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.5725, -97.1217 near Waco. The nearest cataloged historic site is Miller, Dorris (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Paul Quinn College, Butler, George Harrison, House, and Saint Luke African Methodist Espiscopal Church.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5309004783. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.