First United Methodist Church of San Augustine

The Rev. Littleton Fowler (1803-1846), one of the first Methodist missionaries sent to the Republic of Texas, came to San Augustine in October 1837. Within two weeks, a lot was given across the street from this site, trustees named, money raised, and Augustus Phelps given a contract to erect a Methodist church building. Masonic Lodge officials supervised the laying of the cornerstone on January 17, 1838. The Rev. Fowler and General Thomas J. Rusk addressed the 500 to 800 persons who gathered for the occasion. In his journal, the Rev. Fowler called it the first cornerstone laid for a Protestant church "west of the Sabine River in the infant Republic." It was also hailed as the first cornerstone laid in a foreign mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States. Angered when his horse was turned loose while he was in church, Columbus Cartwright in 1897 donated an entire block for a new sanctuary, providing space for hitching horses and parking buggies. The present structure was erected on the donated property by 1911, when the Rev. Littleton Morris Fowler, son of the founder, served as pastor. Methodists have worshiped in the same block of San Augustine's Main Street for more than 140 years. (1978)

First United Methodist Church of San Augustine is a historical marker in San Augustine, San Augustine County, dedicated in 1978. It is one of 51 historical markers documented in San Augustine County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 161 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.5283, -94.1070 near San Augustine. The nearest cataloged historic site is Christ Church (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Site of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Cartwright, Matthew, House, and Site of San Augustine University.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5405007604. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.