DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Back in February of 1845, a congregation took shape in Kingsborough, Texas, organized as the Kingsborough Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with the Reverend Wm. K.
Wilson serving as its first pastor. That's where the story begins, out on ground that hadn't yet figured out what it wanted to be called. Because in 1850, Kingsborough (the county seat, mind you) got itself renamed Kaufman.
The church would outlast that name change, and a few more tests besides. It wasn't until 1857 that the congregation purchased a permanent site and raised its first actual building, the Reverend J. A.
Scruggs holding the pastoral reins at the time. Then came 1876, and with the Reverend O. P.
Thomas as pastor, the congregation built something worth writing home about: a traditional steepled, white frame structure, the kind that looks like it belongs on a Sunday-morning painting. And they did it for four hundred dollars. Four hundred.
Now, that building served its purpose, but the congregation had bigger ideas. By 1909, with the Reverend A. R.
Nash as pastor, they erected the present brick building, and this time the cost climbed to thirteen thousand dollars, which tells you something about what they thought this church deserved. It stood through the years, and in 1968, with the Reverend E. H.
Cole as pastor, the building was redecorated; a fresh coat of care on more than a century of faith. From a February founding in 1845 to a brick sanctuary that's still standing, this church has been keeping time in Kaufman longer than Kaufman has been Kaufman.
What the marker says
Organized in February of 1845 as the Kingsborough Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Rev. Wm. K. Wilson was first pastor. In 1850 Kingsborough (county seat) was renamed Kaufman. Present site was purchased and first building erected 1857, with The Rev. J. A. Scruggs as pastor. The second building, a traditional steepled, white frame structure, was built 1876 at cost of $400, with The Rev. O. P. Thomas as pastor. Present brick building was erected 1909 at a cost of $13,000. The Rev. A. R. Nash was pastor. It was redecorated 1968, with The Rev. E. H. Cole, pastor.