DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Central Presbyterian Church in Travis County. Now settle in, because this story starts earlier than you might expect — and it ends up touching some of the most storied names in Texas history. October 13, 1839.
Austin is barely a city. It's more of an ambition with a few buildings scattered around it. But on that day, inside a place called Bullock's Hotel, Austin's very first Presbyterian worship service is held.
Standing in that room is a man named Abner Cook — a builder by trade, an elder by conviction. He's there at the beginning, and he doesn't stop there. Cook goes on to help acquire the very property where this church would plant its roots.
That happens after the Civil War, when a split in the Presbyterian church sends the congregation down a new road as the Presbyterian Church, South. By 1874, a sanctuary is standing on the site. Done.
Built. Real. Now, a church that changes its name four times across the generations is a church that has been through some things.
Southern Presbyterian Church. Free Presbyterian Church. First Southern Presbyterian Church.
Central Presbyterian Church. Four names — one congregation, still standing. And the people who sat in those pews?
That is where the story really starts moving. A governor, Francis R. Lubbock.
A United States Attorney General, Thomas Watt Gregory. A.N. and Jane Y. McCallum.
Dr. George Clark and Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red. And then — and you might want to slow down here — a man listed on the membership rolls under his given name: William Sidney Porter.
You may know him better as O. Henry. The storyteller of the century, sitting in a Sunday pew right here in Austin.
The Reverend Richmond Kelley Smoot played an important role in the national denomination and in building up the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. And this congregation — one congregation, mind you — was instrumental in organizing five other Presbyterian churches right here in Austin. Five.
Started one, helped raise five more. That's not just ministry. That's multiplication.
The marker says the congregation continues a program of ministry, outreach, and cultural events — and if you trace that thread all the way back, it leads straight to a hotel in a brand-new city, on the thirteenth day of October, 1839, where Abner Cook bowed his head and something lasting began.
What the marker says
This congregation traces its roots to October 13, 1839, when Austin's first Presbyterian worship service was held at Bullock's Hotel. Present that day was builder Abner Cook, elder in the first Presbyterian church organized in Austin. He helped acquire this property for the Presbyterian Church (South) following a post-Civil War split in the church. A sanctuary was completed on the site in 1874. This congregation was known in later years as Southern Presbyterian Church, the Free Presbyterian Church, First Southern Presbyterian Church, and Central Presbyterian Church. It has counted among its members many individuals important in the life of the denomination and the city of Austin, including Gov. Francis R. Lubbock; William Sidney Porter (O. Henry); A.N. and Jane Y. McCallum; Dr. George Clark and Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red; and U.S. Attorney General Thomas Watt Gregory. The Rev. Richmond Kelley Smoot played an important role in the national denomination and in the development of the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. This congregation was instrumental in organizing five Presbyterian churches in Austin. It continues a program of ministry, outreach and cultural events. (1988)