About Us
The Almeda Community Sunday School was organized in 1893 by a few early settlers in the Almeda area. The Duggers, the Pettys, the J.W. Hicks, the Harris family and the Shinns, were among this group. The first meetings were held in Shinn's hay barn, located where the Upchurch family reside on the hill beyond the school house. Bales of hay were used for pews. Hymns were sung from memory, as they had no books.
When winter set in, the congregation moved into the school house. For about forty years it was known as the Almeda Sunday School. Occassionally a preacher would drop in for a few services. The Rev. W. H. Drummet was one of the most faithful. Mrs. C.W. Fellows of Central Street recalled Rev. Drummet would ride a freight train to Almeda on Sunday morning, then most often, after the services would have dinner with Mrs. G. W. Maughmer and family. She was the mother of Mrs. Fellows. In the late afternoon Rev. Drummet would take the freight train back to Houston.
The people of Almeda finally decided there was a need for a church in this area, believing that a community without a church was like a ship without a rudder. Mrs. Fellows, a civic-minded person, and a member of First Christian Church of Houston, took the initiative and called Dr. H.W. Whaling, the Presiding Elder of the Methodist Church, in the Houston District. She informed Dr. Whaling there were more Methodists in Almeda than any other denomination.
In February of 1938, Dr. Whaling called a young man still in Seminary, Weldon B. Morton of Eastland, who was attending Duke University and placed in Almeda to canvas the community for the possibility of organizing a Community Church. On Sunday morning, Rev. Morton would preach at the school house, and during the week he wold compile a list of names willing to help organize a church in Almeda. Thus, the Almeda Community Church was formed.
On Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938, twenty-three persons joined the church in the school auditorium. The majority were baptized by a profession of faith, along with two babies, Judith Scott and Jerry Wandel.
Early names remembered are, the G.E. Andersons and son Carl. Laura and Lillie Anderson, Mrs. Ruth Bones, Mrs. Elizabeth Bruns and Dorothy, the Bert Buells, the Fordyce Sr., Jennie Kaufhold (Gehring). Mary Kenworth, Louise Landers, the Louis Parks and children, the John Pearsons, Margurite Scearce, the Barney Scotts, the Ray Tylers, the Wandels, and T.J. Plimper (Ward). Others soon followed, Onetta Baggett, Marion Rhodes, Arthur Stone, Joe Simpson and Darrel Mayfield.
A Community Methodist Church was perfected in 1938, with Rev. Weldon B. Morton as the first pastor. This first church was errected on Central Street (renamed Broadhurst) by home labor. It cost $3, 500, and was dedicated free of debt on Easter Sunday, 1939.
There were additions and improvements, but the Congregation outgrew the facilities. A larger and more contemporary building was erected on the corner of Fellows and Almeda School Road in 1955, with the Rev. James T. Garrett as the first pastor. Here the Congregation has continued to worship until the present time.
