HISTORY
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April 25, 1904 - Meeting to Organize Church. The newly settled grassland of the High Plains showed great promise with its fertile soil and abundant water. New settlers had moved to the area, and they decided in 1904 that a school was needed for the children’s education. The nearest railroad was at Canyon, Texas, a distance of nearly 100 miles. Now the trip requires only two hours by car, but at that time traveling by horse drawn wagon required several days. E.C. Fullingim, Tom McLain, and R.C. Rasco hitched four horses each to two wagons and five horses to a third wagon. The trio of men set out for Canyon to haul the lumber for the school building, a trip that took six and one-half days. None charged a fee for his services, and it is likely that all the labor for the construction of the one-room structure was donated also. Mather Carr supervised the workers. The building was a 20 x 30-foot structure with 12-foot boxed and stripped walls.
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The first meeting to organize a church was held in the school building on April 25, 1904. William Hardy Carr, a local Methodist minister (who established several churches across the plains) met with six others – his wife Martha Jane, his daughter Anna, his son Mather and Mather’s wife Annie, and Mr. and Mrs. B.P. Merrill to make plans for the new church. Several prospective members did not attend because of a prairie fire which had occurred the day before, and a strong wind had filled the air with charred grass.
The D.T. Scott family joined the church as soon as possible, as did the L.E. Williams family later in the year. Soon after, a community meeting was called, and the name “Harmony” was suggested by Mrs. D.T. Scott; thus, the church was called the Harmony Methodist Society. Two months after the church was organized, a Sunday school was established. Mather Carr was elected superintendent, a position he held for some twenty years. Other families in the surrounding area soon came to worship, including the W.C. Woods, Will Bairds, R.M. Boyds, and M.D. Ramseys. Mrs. T.B. Gross and Mrs. M.B. Holmes and family also participated.
The Reverend Carr served as pastor for the first four years of the Harmony church, which was in the Clarendon District, with the Reverend J.M. Sherman serving as the first presiding elder and W.W. Bishop as bishop. The assessment for the pastor and presiding elder’s salaries for the year was $60 total. The presiding elder received $9; the pastor received $51. In 1905, the church was transferred to the Colorado City, TX district. In 1906, the Plainview District was created by E.E. Hoss, and the Harmony Church was transferred to this district, where it remains.
1914 - Carr's Chapel Built. By 1914, the Harmony church had outgrown its space as had the nearby Allmon church. The leaders of the two communities agreed to build a church halfway between Harmony and Allmon and combine the congregations. Some of the families in the Allmon church were the Krauses, Gaults, Grahams, and Allmons. The church leaders purchased five acres for the new church from the southwest corner of the Coke Fullingim homestead. The contractors were Cannady and Thurman, who donated most of their labor. The entire building cost $1,300. The finished church contained an altar rail, wooden pews, frosted glass windows, two classrooms, and a mother’s room. A pulpit chair and pulpit were donated. The church doors were never locked, and we found evidence of someone having spent the night in the building. This “open door” policy changed when we discovered that a thief had stolen our beautiful chair, a fact we had difficulty accepting. We advertised and searched for the chair, stating that we would not ask any questions if the chair would just be returned. All of our searching was to no avail, and we do not have any clues as to its whereabouts. A photo of the stolen chair can be seen HERE.
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A straight steel cable through steel posts southwest of the church served as a place to hitch the horses. Once we progressed to motorized vehicles, the hitching rail was removed. A fence with a wooden turnstile enclosed the church to protect it from roaming animals. When wild animals became less of a threat and farmers penned their livestock, the fence was eliminated.
November 29, 1914 - First Sermon in New Building. The dedication included printed bulletins, dinner on the ground, and preaching all day. The pastor and the presiding elder received yearly salaries of $472.00 combined. The building and grounds had a value of $2000.00. Services were held two Sundays a month, both morning and night.
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Stewards for the new church were L.E. Williams, M.W. Heard, C.C. Krause, and Mather Carr, who was also elected Sunday school superintendent. He held this position until our family moved to Floydada for a brief period of time. Other superintendents were George Finkner, Emmitt Foster, Ralph Thomas, L.A. Williams, Wesley Carr, and William Finkner. Others who served included Zant Scott, Floyd Trowbridge, Horace Carr, Marvin Smith, Marion Tucker, Everett Miller, and Joyce Davis.