First Presbyterian Church

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Long before the Civil War, a church building went up in a place called Sterling, sitting on land that belonged to Judge Robert Calvert. Now Judge Calvert was no ordinary man.

He was a Texas legislator, and if you trace his family tree far enough back, you find yourself looking at Lord Baltimore himself, the colonizer of Maryland. That's the kind of lineage that follows a man like a long shadow. The building that rose on his land was built to last.

The leaded glass in those windows was imported, brought in from somewhere far off to catch the light just right. The rest of the materials and the labor came from Calvert's own plantation, so this was very much his project, his ground, his craft. When Judge Calvert's heirs decided the time had come, they gave the building to the church, which was then the Cumberland Presbyterian congregation.

That gift set the building in motion, and motion is what it got. In 1868, the whole structure was moved to the town of Calvert. Then in 1877, it was remodeled.

And it still wasn't done traveling. In 1913, it was placed at the site where it stands today. A church built before a war, moved after one, remodeled, relocated again, and still standing.

Some things just refuse to sit still, and some things, once they finally do, are exactly where they were always supposed to be.

What the marker says

Built at Sterling before Civil War, on land of Judge Robert Calvert, Texas legislator and descendant of Lord Baltimore (Maryland colonizer). Leaded glass in windows was imported. Other materials and labor were from Calvert's plantation. Calvert's heirs gave building to the church - then Cumberland Presbyterian. It was moved to Calvert 1868, remodeled 1877. Placed at this site in 1913. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967