First Christian Church of Plano

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I see it. Back in 1846, a pair of Kentucky natives named William and Ruth Forman packed up their lives and moved to Texas, and when they acquired land out in what would become Collin County, tucked into that acreage was the very ground that would one day be Plano. Now, that's the kind of land deal you don't fully appreciate until a whole town shows up on it.

The Formans had a daughter named Letitia, and in 1853 she married a man named George Barnett. The Barnetts bought land of their own, northwest of Plano along Spring Creek, and it was out there on the Barnett farm, sometime in the mid-1850s, that the First Christian Church took root. No grand cathedral, mind you; a small frame building doing double duty as both a school and a church, with traveling ministers coming through to serve the congregation.

That's a building working harder than most people. Time rolled on, as it tends to do in Texas, and by 1873 the congregation was ready for something more permanent. A new church building went up on the corner of East 16th Street and Avenue G in Plano: one large room with a center aisle, coal oil lamps throwing their warm unsteady light across the pews, and a single table standing in quiet service as both pulpit and communion table.

Simple. Purposeful. Then came what the members themselves called the Golden Age, a fifty-year stretch running from 1899 to 1949, and during that half century the church grew in ways that demanded a larger home.

A new structure rose at East 15th Street on the corner of Avenue H. And still the congregation kept growin', because apparently that is simply what this church does. Another sanctuary eventually became necessary to hold all that momentum.

From a frame building on a farm along Spring Creek to a cornerstone of the Plano community, the First Christian Church has been at it since the mid-1800s, running an outreach program, administering scholarships that reach the citizens of the area and beyond. Some things, it turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

Kentucky natives William and Ruth Forman moved to Texas in 1846, and acquired land that included the future location of Plano. The Forman's daughter Letitia married George Barnett in 1853. The Barnetts bought land northwest of Plano along Spring Creek. The First Christian Church was established in the mid-1850s on the Barnett farm. A small frame building served as both a school and church, with traveling ministers serving the church. In 1873, another church building was erected on the corner of East 16th Street and Avenue G in Plano. The structure consisted of one large room with a center aisle, coal oil lamps, and a single table serving as both a pulpit and communion table. During the fifty-year period from 1899-1949 called the "Golden Age" by the members, the church experienced significant growth and a larger structure was built at East 15th Street on the corner of Avenue H. In later years another sanctuary was needed to accommodate continued growth. An active part of the community since its beginnings, the congregation maintains an outreach program and administers scholarships that benefit the citizens of the area and beyond. (1996)