First Presbyterian Church of Pleasanton

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Picture Pleasanton, Texas, in the year 1914. No permanent Presbyterian church anywhere in Atascosa County.

Not one. Then along comes Reverend N.H. Doggett.

Now, Doggett wasn't a settled pastor with a steeple and a congregation already warmed up for him. He was an evangelist for the Western Texas Presbytery, and he traveled with a tent. A tent.

He planted that canvas cathedral right there in Pleasanton, and on March 29, 1914, something official happened in Atascosa County for the very first time. The Presbyterian Church in Pleasanton was established. First of its kind in the whole county.

Services came once a month, but Sunday school, that ran every single week, because some things you don't let slide. Now a church with a tent is a church with a question: where do you go from here? The answer walked in wearing a businessman's boots.

A local business owner by the name of P.A. Vance donated land and funding so the congregation could put up a real building, a proper one, on Virginia Street. And in February of 1915, they held their first service inside those walls.

The first resident minister to stand in that pulpit was Reverend George Faison. The congregation grew, the decades turned, and in 1958 the church moved again, this time to its current location on Bryant Street. From a traveling tent to Virginia Street to Bryant Street, the First Presbyterian Church of Pleasanton has spent more than a century making what the marker calls a significant impact on Atascosa County.

Started with one evangelist and a piece of canvas. That's a pretty good foundation.

What the marker says

In 1914, Reverend N.H. Doggett, an evangelist for the Western Texas Presbytery, brought his traveling tent to Pleasanton. On March 29, 1914, the Presbyterian Church in Pleasanton was established, the first in the county. Services were held once a month with Sunday school classes offered weekly. Local business owner P.A. Vance donated land and funding for the church to construct a building on Virginia Street. The first service was held in February 1915. Reverend George Faison was the first resident minister. In 1958 the church moved to its current location on Bryant Street. Through faith and community outreach, the First Presbyterian Church in Pleasanton has made a significant impact on Atascosa county.