Amarillo, Texas Gets Religion

In its early days, the settlement that came to be called Amarillo was an irreligious place. Saloons were busy, Sundays were like any other day, and churches were unknown. The town was populated by young people, those who were healthy and strong enough to travel to a new settlement. This meant that death rarely came by natural causes. When someone was killed, H. H. Wallace, a local judge, would read the burial service from the Episcopal Prayer Book.[1]

But in 1888, Isaac Mills, a Methodist circuit-riding preacher who lived in Clarendon, came to Amarillo. His teaching and influence led to the establishment of a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1889, the congregation built the first church structure in Amarillo. As other religious groups established congregations in Amarillo, the Methodists, to their credit, allowed the other churches to worship in their facility. [2]

Notes

[1] G. A. F. Parker, "Incipient Trade and Religion in Amarillo," Panhandle-Plains Historical Review 2 (1929), 141-44.

[2] Ibid. Stephen Daniel Eckstein Jr., History of Churches of Christ in Texas, 1824-1950 (Austin, TX: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1963), 173; "Methodist Circuit-Riding Preacher Founded Church," Childress Index, Wednesday, July 14, 1948; "Polk Street United Methodist Church," Texas Historical Commission marker, Amarillo, TX. Viewed March 27, 2020.