First Presbyterian Church of Rockport

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Presbyterian Church of Rockport. Now settle in, because this is a congregation that refused to quit. The story starts in 1869, when this church first drew breath in Rockport.

But here's where things get interesting: by 1879, it had gone quiet. Deactivated. Some congregations, that's the end of the story.

Not this one. Ten years later, in 1889, somebody said enough waiting, and the church was reorganized, this time with twenty charter members ready to do the work. For a while, those members made do with facilities provided by other churches.

Borrowed pews, borrowed roofs, borrowed Sunday mornings. But they were building toward something of their own. And sure enough, around 1906 or 1907, their first true house of worship went up at the corner of Market and South Magnolia streets.

Now, if you know anything about life on the Texas coast, you know what comes next. Hurricanes. Several of them, the marker says, and this church survived every single one.

That is not a small thing. That is stubbornness of the most admirable kind. After all that, in 1949, the congregation moved to the site where the marker stands today.

More than a century of local history running through its walls, and among its members you'll find community leaders and descendants of the very founding families who kept the faith back in 1889. Twenty charter members planted something that hurricanes couldn't take. That's a Rockport story if I've ever heard one.

What the marker says

This congregation traces its history to 1869. Although deactivated in 1879, it was reorganized with twenty charter members in 1889. The members met in facilities provided by other churches until their first house of worship was completed at Market and S. Magnolia streets about 1906-07. After surviving several hurricanes, the church moved to this site in 1949. An integral part of local history for over a century, First Presbyterian Church counts among its members many community leaders and descendants of its founding families. (1991)