{"nrhp_refnum":"88001952","name":"First Methodist Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"301 E. Courthouse","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cuero","county":"DeWitt County","state":"TX","lat":29.09105648800005,"lon":-97.28825958399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-10-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Gothic Revival frame church at 301 E. Courthouse in Cuero, De Witt County, Texas, built in 1886 by local contractor Z.A. Finck and altered in 1929.","why_significant":"The church is Cuero's oldest surviving church and one of the best local examples of Gothic Revival ecclesiastical architecture. Despite the 1929 changes, including stucco, a new basement and reorientation, it keeps its historic integrity and closely resembles its original appearance.","narrative":"Gothic Revival design defines this frame church at 301 E. Courthouse in Cuero, built in 1886 by local contractor Z.A. Finck. The congregation had been organized in February 1876. A squared tower stands at the northwest corner, with a double-door entrance under a pointed-arch transom, a matching secondary entry at the northeast corner, and stained-glass windows in pointed-arch openings. The tower has a small rose window, triple arches on each elevation, finials at each corner and a pyramidal roof with finial caps. In 1929 the building was raised and reoriented, a basement was added and stucco was applied. Even so, it keeps its historic integrity and closely resembles its original appearance. It is regarded as Cuero's oldest surviving church and one of the best local examples of Gothic Revival ecclesiastical architecture. It sits on a lot of less than an acre in a mostly residential area east of the central business district and remains in religious use in good condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Finck, Z.A. (1886), contractor","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival church","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Condition described as good; still in religious use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.422324-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/92/9687/40968792/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/88001952.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88001952/c56269c7a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88001952/c56269c7a9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Methodist_Church,_Cuero,_Texas.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Methodist_Church,_Cuero,_Texas.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968792","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Methodist_Church_(Cuero,_Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5453271"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/dewitt-county/first-methodist-church-88001952/"}