Roscoe FUMC History

When it all began….

Roscoe sprang from Railroad Stop 153 and the name of Vista, and then changed its name when it applied for a Post Office because Texas already had a town called Vista. To honor the foreman of the railroad crew that was laying tracks, the town was name for him, J.T. Roscoe. Roscoe was established in 1887.

The town grew because of the rich farmland, the good ranchland and railroad industry. Roscoe is a small West Texas town of 1700 people. The main products are cotton, feed cattle and hogs. There are numerous oil and gas wells in the locality.

One of Roscoe’s mayors was shot down and killed after a quarrel, a rancher was stabbed and killed by a man who didn’t like the price he was asking for some cattle and later a deputy marshal was murdered by a teenager who was high on dope. In the early part of the century, horse racing was a favorite form of entertainment and some of the races took place on Main Street.

(Courtesy of Mrs. Laura Fay (Wilson) Duncan)

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The Roscoe Methodist Church was organized with 14 charter members including:

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bond, Mrs. Elizabeth Sanders, Mr. Tom Eastman and his Parents, Miss Lena Whorton, Mrs. H.M. Emerson, Mr. And Mrs. Joshua Roper and Two daughters, and Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Whorton. There is a question about the Date of the organization. Dr. J.O. Haynes writes in “A History of the Northwest Texas Conference”; The church at Roscoe is believed by some to have been Organized in 1892 by R.F. Dunn; but this is not probable as Dunn at that time Was professor at Granbury College. It may have been organized in the early 1880’s while Dunn was at Sweetwater. But the church has no specific records before 1900.

In 1892 R F Dunn, pictured below, organized Roscoe 1st United Methodist Church.