First Christian Church of Lancaster

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back on July 5, 1846, a man named Roderick Rawlins and thirteen settlers sat down together and started something. No grand building, no steeple catching the light.

Just people. They met in homes, they met in a one-room log schoolhouse, and they called it a fellowship. That was the beginning of what would become the First Christian Church of Lancaster, a Disciples of Christ congregation, and one of the oldest Christian congregations in continuous service in the entire state of Texas.

Let that settle for a second. The entire state. For years, ordained members and itinerant preachers kept the services going, moving from place to place, keeping that fellowship alive by sheer will and conviction.

Then came the Civil War. And it disrupted things, the way it disrupted just about everything in Texas. But this congregation did not disappear.

In 1880 the membership reorganized, pulled itself back together, and got on with the work. By 1887 they had built their first actual church house, right there at the corner of Main and Henry. A real building.

A place to point to and say, that's ours. Then 1918 came, and fire took it. The church burned along with other structures on the Square, and just like that, decades of that physical history were gone.

But the very next year, they replaced it. That's the kind of people we're talkin' about. The story keeps going.

In 1957 the congregation acquired this site, and in 1960 the building was erected. Roderick Rawlins, born in 1776, died in 1848, just two years after he helped plant that first seed. He didn't get to see any of what came after.

But on July 5, 1846, thirteen settlers and one man with a vision sat down together, and somehow, through homes and log schoolhouses and war and fire and everything else Texas could throw at them, that fellowship never stopped meeting.

What the marker says

(Disciples of Christ) On July 5, 1846, Roderick Rawlins (1776 - 1848) and 13 settlers began this fellowship. They met in homes and a one-room log schoolhouse. For years ordained members and itinerant preachers led services. After disruptions of the Civil War, the membership reorganized in 1880. The first church house was built in 1887 at the corner of Main and Henry. It burned in 1918 with other structures on the Square and was replaced the next year. In 1957 this site was acquired; the building was erected in 1960. This is one of the oldest Christian congregations in continuous service in the state.