The desired outcome throughout the design process is for our projects to be as environmentally compatible, functionally efficient, aesthetically individual while being as economically feasible as we can make them. Our goal is to encourage and generate as much innovative, collaborative, and creative input from the client, ourselves and consultants alike.

POLK STREET METHODIST CHURCH - AMARILLO, TX

Renovation of playground at Polk Street Methodist Church in Amarillo, TX. Design by Turner LandArchitecture LLC. | Installation by Exerplay Inc. | Children's Interactive Play Components by Landscape Structures Inc.

POLK STREET METHODIST CHURCH History

On November 23, 1888 eight people met with two visiting preachers at the new courthouse in Amarillo and organized the church that would later be known as Polk Street Methodist Church, Amarillo’s first church.

By July, 1889 the first facility of the new church, called Parker Chapel, was consecrated. Within the next few years Parker’s Chapel was the founding home to First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, and many other churches and ministries in the new community. By 1902 the church had outgrown Parker’s Chapel and a new facility was built at 802 Polk Street. “The White Church” only served the congregation for five years before it too was outgrown. A new, beautiful church facility was built in 1907 complete with a tall steeple, stained glass windows, a large balcony, a choir loft, and a pipe organ. For years Polk Street had been the largest church in the Northwest Texas Annual Conference and this new facility would guarantee the church’s leadership in Texas Panhandle Methodism for the foreseeable future.

But this facility, too, would be outgrown by the congregation and on February 26, 1928, the current sanctuary and education building were completed. The modified Gothic designed facility has a beautiful carillon tower, the 150-seat Ware Chapel, a modern office complex, a 4,000-pipe organ, and a 1,000-seat sanctuary lined with beautiful stained-glass windows. The four-story education building includes a modern nursery, prayer chapel, 35 large classrooms, multiple kitchenettes, and amenities for wedding parties. The Social Hall, now the home to the Polk Street Child Development Center, is a 27,000 square foot facility built in 1958. In 2011 the Christian Life Center was opened containing the Great Hall with a full basketball court, industrial kitchen, Wesley Hall, The Loft (home to our youth ministries), and our incredible Children’s Ministries space. While Polk Street is more than our building, our current 170,000 square foot facility helps tell the story of our church and our ministries.

On July 1, 2023 Polk Street became a member congregation of the Global Methodist Church.

Through Polk Street's efforts multiple churches and ministries across the Panhandle have been founded including St. Paul Methodist Church, Trinity Methodist Church, St. Stephen Methodist Church, The Wesley Community Center, and the Guyon Saunders Resource Center. We are proud of our history, honored to be standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, and awed by the way God has used Polk Street to reach Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle with the gospel of Jesus Christ.