| About Ovilla United Methodist Church |
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The Methodist Church was founded in the town of Ovilla, Ellis County, Texas, in the year 1886 under the direction of the famed Circuit Minister, John C. Davis. His records read "On October 10, 1883 we bought six acres of land at Ovilla on which there is a house for a parsonage and on which we are building a church 32' wide and 50' long." This house was located under the big old pecan trees which still stand near the northeast corner of the cemetery.
During the period of 1883-1886, Ovilla was in the Northwestern Texas Conference- Red Oak Circuit. Meetings were recorded at Ovilla in July 18-18, 1885, and again in January 16-17, 1886.
Traveling by horseback, Circuit Ministers were unable to make the rounds on a regular basis. Often lay members presided at church meetings between their trips. Many marriages and baptisms were awaiting the minister's next arrival.
It is also remembered that a Mr. B. P. McFarlin was purportedly ousted from Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church for shocking grain on a Sunday, but records show it was actually fifteen years after that incident (for which he apologized and was forgiven) that he resigned his membership at Shiloh and joined the Ovilla Methodist Church. He gave land for the church grounds and later money from the settlement of the McFarlin - Chapman estate was willed to both the Ovilla and Shiloh Cemeteries.
Labor for the church construction was provided by the members, as was commonplace among the 20 to 30 loyal families who kept the membership going and the church alive through many years of hardship and sacrifice. But even in lean times, the members remained faithful and hardworking. This early nucleus of our present congregation contained ancestors of some of our current membership. The caring that developed then among these pioneer families is still prevalent today. A beautiful reproduction of the original church house adorned the stage curtain installed in McFarlin Memorial Auditorium in 1926 on the Southern Methodist University campus.
During the summers, camp meetings were held first at a brush arbor just west of Shiloh Church, and later, on the banks of Red Oak Creek in Ovilla. Hundreds of people from the Methodist and Presbyterian congregations and local friends and neighbors from other churches would gather for days-on-end, starting on the second Sunday in August, after everyone's crops were "laid by".
They came first in wagons loaded with family and food, with a cow or two and chickens in tow, to enjoy the fellowship. Later cars brought them and they put up tents for their families and worshiped in a large wooden tabernacle with a straw-covered floor.
There were several ministers who came to conduct the three services which were held throughout the day and many hundreds "received the Lord" at those memorable gatherings. Through the early years, Ovilla shared their ministers with Red Oak and Brittain and later was assigned student preachers from S.M.U. who were earning their degress in Theology.
Our church building grew along with the congregation when the church at Longbranch, a settlement between Ovilla and Midlothian, closed. Part of its membership transferred to the Methodist Church in Ovilla.
The front door that originally was on the east side of the building was moved to the north side, it is said, to accommodate a casket that was too large to go through the original door. At another time of renovation following storm damage, they added four classrooms onto the west side of the sanctuary. Before that time, the only two classrooms were under the bell towers.
A pot-bellied stove in the center of the sanctuary was the only heat for the church. We still have the old coal shuttle used to fire up the stove. A fellowship hall and kitchen were added to the back of the original church in 1956 under the supervision of Will H. Curtis, and two years later, the membership built a small frame parsonage on the northeast corner of the church property. Brother Bill Blankenship and his family were its first occupants. In 1960, the church was assigned its first full-time minister, Brother Don McGown.
With renewed growth of Ovilla when city folks began venturing out of Dallas for the peace and quiet of the countryside, the membership saw the need for a larger fellowship hall. The present one was built in 1977 as a separate brick building. A new parsonage off Westmoreland Road was purchased the following year as Ovilla and the church membership began to grow. In 1985, under the leadership of Rev. Steve Ramsdell, the old, frame parsonage was sold and moved to make place for the new sanctuary that we use today. It was designed by architect Don Jordan, a present member.
Ovilla United Methodist Church has a rich heritage. We are proud of our past and are excited about our future with the purchase of 43 acres of land on Ovilla and Westmoreland Roads on which to construct our future buildings.
We offer a warm welcome to newcomers of our area and numerous opportunities of service and discipleship.
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