In the fall of 1905, John V. Thomas organized a Sunday School in the two-room schoolhouse at
513 East Francis. Rev. Chatfield and Rev. Daisy of the Congregational faith began preaching there, and the idea developed that a Union Church could serve an active membership of about sixty, whereas only a few would
represent any one denomination.The Union Church thrived for several years before growth of Pampa and fear of losing religious identity caused groups to withdraw and form denominational churches.
The first
denomination to organize in Pampa was the Methodist. The five charter members were Oscar and Gertrude Cousins and W.W. and Ella Harrah and their son Lee. The organizing minister was J. A. Laney, pastor at Miami.
With
Laney's help, the charter members secured a vacant building near the Johnson Mercantile Building (location of M.E. Moses at 105 North Cuyler). The first recorded organization of the First Methodist Church was on
September 29, 1906, when a Methodist revival marked the initial meeting.
In 1908 a lot was purchased and an additional lot was donated by the White Deer Land Company. At this location, the southeast corner of Foster
and Starkweather, a neat one-room building was constructed and painted white. There was a steeple above the entrance cloak room and attractive opaque glass in the windows. A large coal-burning stove stood in the center
of the room.
Oscar Cousins was the first Sunday School Superintendent, and Mrs. H.F. Barnhart, who had joined the church with her husband in October, 1906, was one of the first teachers.
In the early part of 1908,
Mrs. W.G. (Harriet) Tinsley went about the community in a horse-drawn buggy as she recruited members for a women's organization. The Woman's Missionary Society was organized when "there was no other organization in
our little town with the exception of the Methodist Church and 'one another'."
(The "one other" was the First Baptist Church which had organized on April 6, 1907, with 22 charter members. The First
Christian Church was soon to organize on April 4, 1909, with eight charter members).
In 1913, under the pastorate of J.P. Lowry, the one-room church building was expanded by making a L-shape of the original building.
The present church site at the corner of Foster and Ballard was purchased in 1924 and a new building was completed in 1928. A major renovation was begun in 1973.
Possibly Oscar Cousins came to the Pampa area in 1903
when his father, became the Carpenter's House, a non-denominational church.