DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say about the Church of the Good Shepherd, in my own telling. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good while. Trinity Sunday, 1877: that's where it starts.
A man named Reverend John Portmess, serving as vicar, organized this congregation as a mission right here in Kaufman County. And while they were getting their footing, they didn't wait around for a building. First services were held at Terrell Academy, a private school the vicar himself had founded.
Think about that; the man was running a school and standing up a mission at the same time. Some folks just don't sit still. Then in 1878, they got to work in earnest.
The first church edifice went up right here on this very site, and it was consecrated. That's a word with some weight to it: consecrated. Set apart.
Made holy. The years rolled on, and in 1895 the parish was admitted to the Diocese of Dallas at its Primary Council. A milestone, no question.
But the story wasn't finished yet. 1907. That's when the Victorian Gothic church was completed; the one that still turns heads to this day. And inside that church, if you ever get the chance to walk through those doors, you'll find an elaborately carved oak altar and something genuinely rare: a Gratian organ.
Not common. Not ordinary. Rare.
The marker says so, and the marker doesn't throw that word around lightly. From a mission on Trinity Sunday to a consecrated landmark with a rare organ inside, Reverend Portmess planted something here that took deep root.
What the marker says
Organized as mission by Rev. John Portmess, vicar, Trinity Sunday, 1877. First services were held at Terrell Academy, a private school founded by the vicar. In 1878 first church edifice was built on this site and consecrated. Parish was admitted to Diocese of Dallas at its Primary Council in 1895. Victorian Gothic church was completed in 1907. It has an elaborately carved oak altar and a rare Gratian organ. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967