A little church on the prairie

In 1854 two pioneer families started a little church in the settlement known then as Old Liberty Hill. The site was on Bryson Hill, one and a half miles west of the present church.

Liberty Hill Methodist Episcopal Church South had five charter members: John T. Bryson, his wife, Amelia Bryson, their daughter, Hulda Bryson, Anthony Smith, and his wife, Amanda E. Smith. Two visiting Methodist preachers, Josiah Whipple and William Monk, were the first to serve this community.

A one room log cabin was built in the Bryson pasture and was used as a church and a public school house. This building was located just south of a stock tank near the present site of the Liberty Hill Cemetery.

In 1870 Captain T. S. Snyder, a pioneer cattleman and his son-in-law, John T. Bryson, donated two acres of land where Cross Tracks Church is currently located. Construction began on a two-and-a-half-story building. Upon completion the building was used for public school classes, Sunday school and worship. This small, original chapel still stands.

Over the years Cross Tracks has grown and evolved. In 1905 the two upper floors were removed, the choir and pulpit space was enlarged and three memorial windows were installed. In 1916 two wings were added to accommodate a growing Sunday school.

The present Fellowship Hall, completed in 1993, evolved from a tabernacle with a granite gravel floor and posts supporting a skeleton roof covered with cedar boughs, which was erected in 1913. The multi-purpose worship center was constructed in 2014.

In 1985 the United Methodist Church Commission on Archives awarded our church a plaque designating it “United Methodist Historic Site No. 158.”

Since its beginning the church has had four names: Liberty Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Liberty Hill Methodist Church; Liberty Hill United Methodist Church and, as of August 20, 2016, Cross Tracks Church.