Flower Mound Tx | Denton County Office Of History And Culture: Blog

If you were to look on a map of Texas today, you would not see the Town of Bethel amongst the towns of North Texas. So what happened to the Bethel community? The Bethel Church, now part of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, gives us insight into what the Town of Bethel once was and what it would become.

Where Was Bethel and How Did it Come to Be

Settlers with the Peters Colony established Bethel in the North Texas area during the years of the Republic of Texas. Using modern day boundaries, it was about five miles northwest of Lewisville and Highland Village. In Mrs. Ray Moriss Martin’s research on the Bethel community she included a map depicting where the original structures of Bethel were in relation to 1989 Texas’ boundaries.

The Bethel Community came to be during the settlement of the Republic of Texas, during a period when the fledgling Republic was in dire need of settlers. The Republic of Texas’ Congress passed an act which granted settlers either 640 acres or 320 acres of land based on marital status as a part of their attempts to populate the land. One group that took advantage of this offer was the W.S. Peters company who brought 100 families to Texas. However, due to many discrepancies and compromises between the company and the Republic of Texas, they reduced the amount of land granted to 320 acres of land granted to married men and 160 acres of land for single men.

During this time, the area only saw the occasional visits from Texas Rangers, prospectors, and Native Americans. However, the soil was fertile and ideal for farming. The first settlements in the area began around 1844. The Peters Colony mostly consisted of farmers, but with more families moving to the area, space needed to be set aside for community structures such as schools and churches.

The Bethel Church

The community conducted their religious worship at the Frie School House from 1866 to 1882. In 1882, a church was built on two acres of land across from the Frie School. M.L. Bullard organized the Bethel Church with fourteen members at its founding in 1883. The members adopted the the principles of the government of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and William T. Minor was elected as the Elder and P.N. Siegler as the Decan. The school renamed itself to the Bethel-Frie School around 1884 shortly after construction on the church. The community followed suit, naming itself Bethel after the church and school.

The Bethel Church welcomed all denominations. Because of the small population of the area, the Bethel Church did not have a full time minister. When any minister was present to speak, the congregation, no matter what their denomination, would come and listen. A lack of a minister at any given point, however, did not stop the Bethel community from worshiping. On Sundays without a minister, the congregation still gathered together to sing.

Other churches often collaborated and assisted the Bethel Church with their worship and service. In multiple newspapers there is evidence of preachers from other churches visiting The Bethel Church.

Death and Revival

The Bethel community saw a sharp decline after the the Bethel School moved in Lewisville in 1940. Without the school, many in the Bethel area lost interest in the old church, forcing it to close its doors for a few years. There was a brief period in 1945, when a Baptist congregation attempted to reorganize the church. The new congregants repaired the old building and squared off the front. However, the congregation later moved to Lewisville, leaving the church abandoned once again.

The Bethel community did not last much longer after the Bethel school and church either moved or shut down. Flower Mound incorporated parts of Bethel in 1961. Highland Village and Lewisville followed shortly afterward, incorporating parts of Bethel in 1963. Copper Canyon incorporated the last of Bethel in 1973. By this point, many of the people that lived in Bethel had already moved to the surrounding areas and its structures had either moved or closed down.

Although the Bethel Church had been vacant for decades, the structure still stood. A new Presbyterian congregation saw potential in the old church and got together to clean it up in 1986. The new congregation moved the old building from its original location to 2100 Kirkpatrick Lane. The church experienced numerous repairs and renovations with the attempt to make it look similar to the original structure. A smaller replica of the original William Crawford steeple was installed in 1989. The congregation renamed the church the Bethel Chapel in an effort to retain the original spirit of the community.

The Bethel Church- now Chapel- was a major symbol of the Bethel community. The Bethel community began as a group of 100 or so families immigrating to the Republic of Texas to start a new life. A small community of various religious denominations came together to worship their God further tying their community together. In 1990, a historical marker for Bethel was installed outside the Bethel Chapel to memorialize this community.

More information on Bethel and the Bethel-Frie School can be found here and here.

Sources Used:

Article on Bethel Church Meeting. The Post-Mirror 6, No. 30. (Pilot Point, TX.) August 25, 1893. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

Article on Denton County Singing Association. Denton County News 4, No. 13. (Denton, TX.) July 25, 1895. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

Bates, Ed F. History and Reminiscences of Denton County. Terrill Wheeler Printing. (Denton, TX.) 1976. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

“Bethel Chapel – Bethel Presbyterian Church Photo.” Stopping Points.com. 2009. Found here.

“Bethel Church Holding Revival.” Denton Record-Chronicle 49, No. 205. (Denton, TX.) August 14, 1952. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

“Bethel Church Sets Annual Reunion.” Denton Record-Chronicle 47, No. 307. (Denton, TX.) August 6, 1950. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

“Early Days in East Denton and Collin.” Record and Chronicle 14, No. 50. (Denton, TX.) October 11, 1913. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

“Jottings by the Way.” The Post-Signal 31, No. 26. (Pilot Point, TX.) February 12, 1909. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

Martin, Mrs. Ray Morriss. “The Bethel Community, School and Church: A History Heritage of Information and Stories.” Trinity Presbyterian Church. (Flower Mound, TX.) 1990. (Can be found digitally here.)

“Minor Damage is Done.” Record and Chronicle 10, No. 241. (Denton, TX.) May 23, 1910. Found on the Portal to Texas History .

“Minutes of the Organization and First Annual Session of the Denton County Baptist Association.” Denton County Baptist Association. (Denton, TX.) October 1, 1886. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

“News from Bethel.” Denton Record-Chronicle 18, No. 237. (Denton, TX.) May 17, 1918. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

“Waketon Items.” Denton County News 7, No. 45. (Denton, TX.) March 9, 1899. Found on the Portal to Texas History.

Watson, Mrs. C.F. “News From Bethel-Chinn.” Denton Record-Chronicle 51, No. 105. (Denton, TX.) December 1, 1953. Found on the Portal to Texas History.