First Christian Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Christian Church in Grayson County. Now settle in, because this story doesn't start here. Not even close.

To find the beginning, you've got to travel back through time and across the state, all the way to the winter of 1841 and 1842, up near the Texas-Arkansas border in Bowie County, at a place called McKinney's Landing. That's where the First Disciples of Christ congregation in Texas was founded. The very first one.

In Texas. And leading that congregation was a man named Collin McKinney. Pioneer settler.

Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The kind of man whose name you don't forget. And here's the part that'll make your jaw drop just a little: that Bowie County congregation hadn't exactly just arrived.

They'd been worshipping informally since 1831. So by the time they made it official, they'd already been gathering for a good long while. Between 1844 and 1846, the group picked up and moved to a place called Liberty, which folks would later take to calling Mantua, sitting about three miles southwest of where you are right now.

In 1846, under McKinney and a man named J. B. Wilmeth, the congregation was reorganized as the Liberty Church, with eighteen members on the rolls.

Then in 1854, they built it. The First Mantua Christian Church, a real structure, a permanent home. And what a home it was.

A rail ran right down the center aisle, separating the men from the women. No offering plate ever got passed. Donations went straight onto the communion table.

And the members, they made their own hymn books. Handmade. Which, in a stroke of pure Texas practicality, doubled as souvenir books and recipe books.

Sacred songs and Sunday supper, all in one volume. You can't make that up. Now, the Mantua Church wasn't just tending to its own flock.

Founders of churches in Galveston, Sherman, and Glen Rose all came out of that congregation. They were seeding the faith across the state. Then came 1887.

The Mantua group turned their eyes toward a young, brand-new town called Van Alstyne, sitting right on the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Infant town, they call it on the marker, and that's exactly right. And the Mantua group organized a church on this very site.

Four years later, in 1891, the Mantua and Van Alstyne churches joined memberships. Two congregations, one story. A story that started in a winter camp near the Arkansas border in 1841, wound through the Texas wilderness, and landed right here.

What the marker says

The predecessor of this church, the First Disciples of Christ congregation in Texas, was founded during the winter of 1841-1842 at McKinney's Landing in Bowie County near the Texas-Arkansas border. Collin McKinney, pioneer settler and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was the leader of the Bowie County congregation, which had worshipped informally since 1831. Between 1844 and 1846 the group moved to Liberty (later called "Mantua"), three miles southwest of here. In 1846 under McKinney and J. B. Wilmeth, the congregation was reorganized as the "Liberty Church" with eighteen members. In 1854, the First Mantua Christian Church was built. In this early structure a rail in the center aisle separated men from women. No offering plate was passed; donations were placed on the communion table. Members constructed their own "hymn books," which doubled as souvenir and recipe books. Founders of churches in many cities, including Galveston, Sherman, and Glen Rose, were members of the Mantua Church. In 1887 the Mantua Group organized the church on this site in the infant town of Van Alstyne, located on the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. In 1891 the Mantua and Van Alstyne churches joined memberships. (1968)