First Presbyterian Church of Lockhart

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Presbyterian Church of Lockhart, out there in Caldwell County. Now, some stories start with a grand building, stained glass and steeples reaching for the sky. This one starts with ten people and somebody's living room.

Back in 1849, the Reverend N. P. Charlot appointed D.

M. Morris and Colonel John T. Storey as elders, and just like that, the First Presbyterian Church of Lockhart was organized, all ten members of it.

Ten. You could seat the whole congregation at a long supper table and still have room for the biscuits. Early services moved around the way new congregations do, meeting in members' homes and the Masonic hall, making do, building community before they ever built a wall.

Then in 1854, the church elders bought this very site. The next year, a concrete church building went up right here, and for a while, things were solid. Literally solid.

Concrete solid. But Texas has a way of testing what you build. In 1879, a cyclone came through and destroyed that building.

Gone. And what did the congregation do? They built another one, right back on the same ground, in 1880.

That's not stubbornness, that's just Presbyterians. Then came 1914, and the current sanctuary rose up, the one that still stands today. Along the way, some pastors put in serious time here.

R. A. McCurdy served from 1911 to 1923.

Dr. Samuel L. Joekel came along and served from 1930 all the way to 1954.

Those aren't short stints. Those are lives given to a place and a people. Today the Presbyterian Life Center keeps the work going, hosting church events and community activities, and this congregation, one of the oldest churches in Lockhart, keeps reaching outward, aiding neighbors and the wider world through service and outreach.

Started with ten people in a borrowed room. Still going. That's a story worth pulling over for.

What the marker says

In 1849, Rev. N. P. Charlot appointed D. M. Morris and Col. John T. Storey as elders of first Presbyterian Church, which organized with ten members. Early services were held in members" homes and the masonic hall before church elders bought this site in 1854. A concrete church building was completed the next year. An 1879 cyclone destroyed that building, replaced by another in 1880 and the current sanctuary in 1914. Long-serving pastors include R. A. Mccurdy (1911-23) and Dr. Samuel L. Joekel (1930-54). The Presbyterian Life Center hosts church events and community activities. Today, one of the oldest churches in the city continues to aid its neighbors and the world through service and outreach.