In March 1873, after a survey of the newly established town of Denison counted 40 Methodist citizens, Reverend Alexander Jamison was sent there to organize a Methodist congregation. A new church was soon established as a mission church of the North Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, with Reverend Z. Parker as its first pastor. Its first structure was a one-room frame building at 430 W. Skiddy Street, and it received an official charter in 1881. Around 1887, Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Waples became members after moving from Sherman to Denison. In 1888-1889, Waples released the church trustees from a $1,692.76 note for one dollar, relieving the church's debt. Shortly before E.B. Waples' death in 1898, he made the first monetary gift for construction of a new, larger building at 830 W. Main Street. After that building was completed, the congregation chose the name Waples Memorial Methodist Church, South, to honor the faith and effort of Mr. and Mrs. Waples. Another church building was erected on the same property in 1965. The congregation established a Sunday School in 1910, soon followed by an Epworth League, and in 1936 it began sponsoring Boy Scout Troop 605, a sponsorship that has continued since then. It remains the oldest existing Methodist congregation in Denison and continues to serve the community.