First Presbyterian Church of Bridgeport

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Presbyterian Church of Bridgeport, out in Wise County. Pull up a chair, this one starts with a railroad and ends with something that's still standing. It's 1893, and the Rock Island Railroad is laying line close to Bridgeport, right there on the banks of the West Fork of the Trinity River.

And the way it goes with railroads, where the iron goes, the people follow. The town began to grow. Two years on, in 1895, the family of J.A.

Weakley packed up from Decatur and set down roots in Bridgeport. Now, the Weakleys weren't strangers to the Presbyterian faith, they'd been charter members of other Presbyterian churches in the area, and they weren't about to let a new town go without one. So the idea took hold: start a Presbyterian church in Bridgeport.

They didn't have a building right away. For several years, they met in a school. Twelve people, gathered and determined, doing what congregations have always done, showing up.

Then, on April 1, 1898, those twelve charter members made it official. The church was organized. And things moved fast after that.

In September of 1898, the Bridgeport Town Company sold two lots to the church. The price? One dollar.

By the end of that same year, the first church building was completed, a dignified Carpenter Gothic structure, the marker calls it. You can almost picture it: clean lines, a steeple reaching up, built by a young congregation with something to prove. But a building is never just a building, and this church would know that lesson more than once.

Over the years, they moved into a second structure, built in 1960. Then, in 1974, fire took that second structure. They rebuilt.

Same ground, same congregation, new walls. That's three buildings across the life of one church, and every time, they came back. Now here's the part of this story that deserves a slow moment.

Almost from the very beginning, women in this congregation were organizing and leading. The Women's Auxiliary formed in 1899, just one year after the church itself. The Women's Missionary Union followed in 1901, later known as the Presbyterial Auxiliary of Fort Worth Presbytery.

And at the center of both efforts was Martha Green Weakley, charter member, one of the first leaders of both organizations, who traveled the area delivering speeches on Christian education and methods of organization. She wasn't waiting for an invitation. She was the one doing the inviting.

There's another thread woven through this church's long life, and it runs all the way back across the Atlantic. Descendants of William Montford and Jane Holden Montford, of Ireland, charter members of this congregation, have held continuous membership in the church to this date. Generations, one after the next, in the same pews.

By the 1960s, the church had grown into something bigger than its own four walls. It began sharing services and programs with other denominations in Bridgeport, youth activities, community gatherings, educational programs. The kind of work that doesn't make headlines but holds a town together.

The marker says it plainly: for more than a century, the church has been a beacon of light in the community. Started by twelve people in a schoolroom, built on a dollar's worth of land, knocked down by fire and rebuilt, carrying the names of Ireland and Decatur and Bridgeport all at once. That's not just a church.

That's a town remembering what it's made of.

What the marker says

In 1893, the Rock Island Railroad established a line close to Bridgeport on the banks of the West Fork of the Trinity River, and soon the town began to grow. In 1895, the family of J.A. Weakley moved from Decatur to Bridgeport and, as charter members of other Presbyterian churches in the area, decided to start a Presbyterian church in Bridgeport. After meeting in a school for several years, the twelve charter members officially organized on April 1, 1898. In September of 1898, the Bridgeport Town Company sold two lots to the church for $1. The first church building, a dignified Carpenter Gothic structure, was completed at the conclusion of 1898. The church would reside in several buildings over the years: the original 1898 structure, a second structure built in 1960, and a rebuild of the second structure after a fire in 1974. Opportunities for women to organize within the church began almost immediately and included the Women's Auxiliary in 1899 and the Women's Missionary Union in 1901 (later called the Presbyterial Auxiliary of Fort Worth Presbytery). Martha Green Weakley, one of the first leaders of both organizations and a charter member of the church, traveled the area delivering speeches on Christian education and methods of organization. Descendants of the charter members, William Montford and Jane Holden Montford of Ireland, have held continuous membership in the church to this date. In the 1960s, the church began to share services and programs with other denominations in Bridgeport, such as youth, community, and educational activities. For more than a century, the church has been a beacon of light in the community. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011