Ingleside UMC celebrates 100 years of ministry Oct. 1

In the fall of 1897, a small group of Ingleside pioneer families organized a Sunday school. Their first meetings were in an old farmhouse.
It wasn’t until 1906 that the Ingleside Methodists were granted a charter to establish a church. The first pastor was E.W. Morton, and the congregation had 24 members.
Ingleside UMC celebrated more than a century of ministry Oct. 1.
The celebration included a special service at 10:45 a.m. with Bishop Joel N. Martinez as guest preacher. District Superintendent Barbara J. Ruth, former pastors and former staff were special guests.
Friends and neighbors were invited to join in and help make this a truly special celebration.
After worship, a luncheon was served in the fellowship hall. A special music service, featuring a reunion of The Fishermen, concluded the celebration.
Various groups in the church worked hard at preparing for this event. A temporary museum was set up with pictures of the early years and detailed histories of the church and its members.

In 1899 church meetings were moved from the farmhouse to a barn and then to a schoolhouse. When possible, members of this small group would hitch up their wagons and buggies and ride over to Aransas Pass to hear a preacher and attend church services.
The first church building was built on what is now the corner of Highway 1069 and Church Street.
By the 1930s the church had outgrown the original building. In 1939 the new church was completed, and the “little white church on the corner” came into existence.
For the centennial event the fellowship hall was painted. Windows were scrubbed, and the grounds were spruced up. The United Methodist Women printed centennial cookbooks that were sold during the celebration.
T-shirts, commemorative coins, glass ornaments made from the original 1939 windows, and musical compact disks were on sale.