Texas Historical Marker #16270
Masonic Cemetery. In 1880, the Eagle Lake Masonic Lodge No. 366, established in 1872, purchased this burial ground. Also known as Eagle Lake Masonic Cemetery, the earliest known burial here occurred in 1867. Others buried here include Eagle Lake Mayor and U.S. Representative Joseph Jefferson Mansfield; Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) Patricia Braun O'Bannon; and the namesake of Oldham County, Williamson Simpson Oldham (d. 1868), who is among those reinterred. Cemetery features include curbing, monuments, masonic gravestones, grave slabs and obelisks. A Ladies Cemetery Association cared for the burial ground early in its history; today, the Eagle Lake Masonic Cemetery LLC maintains this historic cemetery. #16270
Cemetery Ave. and Prairie St., Eagle Lake, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #15088
Methodism in Eagle Lake. Methodism in Eagle Lake The United Methodist Church of Eagle Lake is the oldest Protestant congregation in the community. By 1864, Emma Tracy Rhine started the first private school in Eagle Lake. The one-room schoolhouse served as the first church meeting house in 1872, when circuit rider Orceneth Fisher organized a Methodist church and Sunday school. Emma Rhine organized the first Ladies Aid Society in the same year, establishing a tradition of women's groups in the church. The Methodists met in the schoolhouse until 1880, when the community built a union church. The Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian and Christian congregations shared the facility until each could build its own sanctuary. In May 1899, J.K. Davidson, James A. Harbert, R.B. Dobbins and W.Y. Westmoreland, trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, bought land on Lake Street. The Rev. R.E. Nunn directed the construction of a brick sanctuary and a parsonage. In 1939, John Robert and Otera (Fussell) Colly donated land and money for a new Methodist church, named Colly Memorial Methodist Church, in momory of their 17-year-old daughter Bobby. She died the year before by electrocution in a swimming pool; a stained glass window behind the altar was given in memory of A.W. Braun, who died trying to save her. The church facilities expanded with educational buildings and a new parsonage. The church moved one block away to the former Eagle Lake High School site in 1976. The stained glass window and a historic bell moved with the congregation, which changed its name to the United Methodist Church of Eagle Lake. More than a century after its founding, the church continues to play a significant roll in the community. (2008) #15088
200 W. Prairie, Eagle Lake, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #02572
Hotel Dallas, 1912. After Eagle Lake was laid out inthe 1850s, Gamaliel good built a Hotel on this corner. The Good Hotel served as a stagecoach and railroad stop. Three railroads crossed town, and commerce was heavy. By 1912 the economy had become dependent on Rice Farming and this structure was built. The Dallas Hotel was the social and business center for the town. Several hotels competed for the travelers' and drummers' business. With the decline of the railroad and the upserge in Automobiles, business decreased. This is the only one left the historic hotels. #2572
201 N. McCarty Avenue, Eagle Lake, TX, United States