In response to an earlier blog post titled “Texas: Log House,” one in-the-know reader commented that he thought the log house was located on White Chapel and not White’s Chapel. The confusion is understandable. The correct name really is White’s Chapel, but apparently the possessive was too much of a mouthful for some folks. Either that, or when it came to street signs, it was simply easier to drop the apostrophe-s.
A similar mistake occurred in the nearby town of Keller, Texas. In 1850, Daniel Barcroft helped found Mount Gilead Baptist Church. The street on which the church is located was named after Mr. Barcroft. Or was intended to be. In subsequent years the name Barcroft was misspelled as Bancroft and the street is Bancroft Road to this day.
So what’s the full story behind White’s Chapel? Over 150 years ago, settlers came to the area from Rising Fawn, Georgia, to establish a church out west. The group settled in North Texas, and in 1872, the first formal service took place in a newly-built chapel. As the first Methodist church in northeast Tarrant County, this new chapel had traveling preachers known as Circuit Riders. One of the most popular of these early parsons was the Tennessee-born Rev. Lewis M. White. Under his leadership, the new church grew and soon became known by his name. Every week, people showed up at “White’s Chapel.”
In 1971, the church celebrated its centennial and the State of Texas presented the church with a historical marker. As the population of northeast Tarrant County grew, so did the church congregation. By 1985, the small building could no longer accommodate the needs of the community, so a new sanctuary was built. The first service in the new church, known as Grace Chapel, was held on Easter Sunday in 1988.
