First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio. Now settle in, because this congregation's story is one of those where the road to a finished church house is longer, and rougher, than anybody planned. It starts in 1844, when two preachers rode into San Antonio.

One was a Presbyterian, the Rev. John McCullough. The other was a Methodist, the Rev.

John Wesley DeVilbiss. Two different denominations, one shared mission. Together they conducted the first Protestant worship service in the city.

That alone is worth noting. But McCullough wasn't done with San Antonio. In 1846, the Board of Foreign Missions sent him back, this time to organize a church.

And organize he did. After two years, the membership put up an adobe building on Commerce Street. The first Protestant church house in all of San Antonio.

That's no small thing. But here's where the road gets bumpy. The fellowship declined in 1849.

By 1851, the congregation needed saving. Enter the Rev. Dr.

Daniel Baker, founder of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Texas, arriving with six members to reorganize the whole operation. They got back on their feet. They made plans.

In 1859, a contract was let for a new church house, to be built on the northeast corner of Flores and Houston streets. Then the Civil War began. The fellowship broke with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., and construction on that new building stopped cold.

It just sat there. And then, in 1868, a storm came through and destroyed the original adobe building entirely. So now they had no old church and no new one either.

You might think that was the end of the story. It was not. That second house of worship was finally, finally completed in 1879, under the leadership of the Rev.

Dr. J. W.

Neil. Twenty years of starts and stops and storms and war, and they got there. But the congregation wasn't finished building.

Not by a long shot. In 1910, the Rev. Dr.

Arthur Gray Jones led the effort to erect the Gothic Revival structure you can still see today, designed by Atlee B. Ayres. And then in the 1920s, during the pastorate of the Rev.

Dr. P. B.

Hill, this church did something that was genuinely new. Radio broadcasts of services began. The same congregation that put up the first Protestant church house in San Antonio was now sending its services out over the airwaves.

The education building was completed during that same era. From a single adobe building on Commerce Street to radio broadcasts reaching across the city. That's one congregation's long, stubborn, storm-tested march through Texas history.

What the marker says

In 1844 a Presbyterian, the Rev. John McCullough, and a Methodist, the Rev. John Wesley DeVilbiss, visited San Antonio and conducted the first Protestant worship service. The Board of Foreign Missions in 1846 sent the Rev. McCullough to San Antonio to organize this church. After two years the membership erected an adobe building on Commerce Street. It served as the first Protestant church house in the city. The fellowship declined in 1849, and in 1851 the Rev. Dr. Daniel Baker, founder of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Texas, and six members reorganized the congregation. The contract for a new church house was let in 1859, for construction on the northeast corner of Flores and Houston streets. With the beginning of the Civil War, the fellowship broke with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and building construction was halted. A storm in 1868 destroyed the adobe church building. The second house of worship was finally completed in 1879 under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. J. W. Neil. The Rev. Dr. Arthur Gray Jones led in the erection in 1910 of this Gothic Revival structure, designed by Atlee B. Ayres. In the 1920s, during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. P.B. Hill, radio broadcasts of services began and the attached education building was completed. (1979)