First Presbyterian Church of Terrell

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'll tell it to you. Two churches. Two separate stories, both of them rooting down in Kaufman County back in the 1870s.

One was a Cumberland Presbyterian Church, sitting over in the town of Lawrence. The other was the First Presbyterian Church in Terrell; some folks called it the Old School Presbyterian Church. Now, you've got two congregations, each with their own history, their own pews, their own way of doing things.

And for decades, that's exactly how it stayed. But 1904 came around, and something shifted. Those two churches looked at each other across the years and decided the story was better told together.

They joined, became one united congregation. That's the kind of decision that takes a while to arrive at, and once it's made, you build on it. And build they did.

By 1907 and into 1908, they had raised up a sanctuary at Rockwall and High streets. A real place. Brick and mortar and belonging.

That building carried the congregation forward for the better part of half a century, until 1958, when a new structure went up right here on this very site. Two churches became one. One sanctuary became another.

And through all of it (the joining, the building, the rebuilding), the First Presbyterian Church of Terrell kept showing up as an integral part of the life of this city. Some stories don't need an ending. They just keep going.

What the marker says

This congregation traces its history to two Presbyterian churches formed in the 1870s. A Cumberland Presbyterian Church, formerly located in the town of Lawrence, and the First Presbyterian Church in Terrell, also called the Old School Presbyterian Church, joined in 1904 to form a united congregation. A sanctuary was built at Rockwall and High streets in 1907-08 and was replaced in 1958 by a new structure at this site. Throughout its history, the First Presbyterian Church of Terrell has been an integral part of the life of the city.