Kountze Church of Christ

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give you the full picture as Duane sees it. This congregation has been around long enough to remember when Kountze wasn't even the county seat yet. Think about that for a second.

The year is 1886. Kountze, Texas. The Church of Christ sets up and starts holdin' services, and the town hasn't even been named the seat of Hardin County.

That wouldn't happen until the following year, 1887. So this congregation was here first, gettin' itself organized before the courthouse crowd even settled in. And where did they hold those first services?

In the Masonic Hall and in the Courthouse itself. Borrowed rooms, borrowed pews, borrowed patience, most likely. But they showed up every time.

Then came 1891, and the congregation finally put down permanent roots. They constructed a building on Brown Road, on land given by Judge and Mrs. W.

W. Cruse. A gift of land for a house of worship.

That building served the congregation all the way until 1952, more than six decades of Sundays. And it came equipped with something worth noting: a church bell dated 1819. Eighteen nineteen.

That bell was already old when Texas was still a republic, and it kept right on ringin', callin' folks to worship week after week from that building on Brown Road. The first elders of the church were John R. Bevil and J.

W. Daniels. The first minister was D.

A. Leake. They were the ones who held the whole thing together in those early years when borrowed rooms were all they had.

The marker says it plainly: for over a century, the Church of Christ has been an important part of the history of Kountze. And when you consider that the congregation was already a year old before the town even became a county seat, well, that's not just history. That's the foundation.

What the marker says

This congregation was established in 1886, one year before Kountze was named Hardin County Seat. First services were held in the Masonic Hall and in the Courthouse. In 1891 a permanent building was constructed on Brown Road on land given by Judge and Mrs. W. W. Cruse. It served the congregation until 1952 and was equipped with an 1819 church bell that provided the traditional call to worship. First elders of the church were John R. Bevil and J W. Daniels, with D. A. Leake serving as first minister. For over a century, the Church of Christ has been an important part of the history of Kountze. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986