First Presbyterian Church of Memphis

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just passin' it along. Out in Hall County, in the town of Memphis, there stands a church that's been holding its ground since 1890. That's when the Rev.

A. W. Rogers gathered thirteen souls together and called it a congregation: the First Presbyterian Church of Memphis, born from a handful of members and a whole lot of faith.

Thirteen. Not a dozen, not a score. Thirteen.

You remember that number. It matters to the story. Now, every congregation worth its hymnal eventually outgrows its first walls, and this one was no different.

By the time the Rev. Dr. R.

T. Caldwell was leading the flock, a new sanctuary was taking shape. It was completed in 1911; the second home this congregation had ever known.

The man who built it was a church member himself, J. S. Cobb, and he didn't just throw up four walls and call it done.

No sir. Cobb built something with neo-classical revival detailing: arched windows reaching up like they're trying to touch something higher, and a domed roof rounding off the whole picture against the flat Texas sky. Step inside and you'd find furnishings to match.

Including, and here's where it gets interesting, a large pipe organ. Not just any pipe organ. One originally powered by water pressure.

Water pressure. Out on the Texas plains. Somebody in 1911 looked at a pipe organ and said, we're going to run that thing on water, and they did it.

That's the kind of congregation that starts with thirteen members and ends up with a landmark. And that right there is exactly what it became.

What the marker says

Established in 1890 under the leadership of the Rev. A. W. Rogers, this church began with thirteen members. This sanctuary, the second for the congregation, was completed in 1911, during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. R. T. Caldwell. Built by member J. S. Cobb, it features neo-classical revival detailing in the use of arched windows and a domed roof. Interior furnishings include a large pipe organ originally, powered by water pressure. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1980