Old Union Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Limestone County, there's a little place called Old Union, and its story goes back further than that name suggests. It starts with a prairie, a family, and a patch of Texas ground that kept reinventing itself.

The settlement grew up around the property of Joseph and Hannah Ferguson, who put down roots here about 1847. Back then, folks called the whole spread Ferguson Prairie, which makes all the sense in the world. The Fergusons were there, the land was there, done deal.

Early maps even took a swing at renaming it Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe. Out here on the Texas prairie.

Someone had ambitions. But that name didn't stick either, because in 1877 something happened that changed everything. A Union Church was established in the community, and when a church takes hold in a Texas settlement, it has a way of becoming the whole identity of the place.

The community name changed, and Old Union is what it became. Now that first sanctuary, let me paint you a picture. One room.

That's it. One room doing the work of a whole civilization. On Sunday it was a church.

On weekdays it was a schoolhouse. In between, it served as a community center. One room holding all of it together, the prayers and the lessons and the gatherings of neighbors who didn't have anywhere else to go.

That humble little structure carried the community on its back for decades, until a new building was completed in 1913. Classes were conducted there until 1935, and the church, well, the church never stopped. It continues to meet at that very site.

And every June, people come back. The annual homecoming memorial services draw folks home to a piece of ground the Fergusons first settled way back around 1847. Prairie to Ivanhoe to Old Union, one room doing the work of a town, and a congregation that simply refused to quit.

Some things, it turns out, outlast every name you give them.

What the marker says

Originally known as Ferguson Prairie, this settlement grew up around the property of Joseph and Hannah Ferguson who settled here about 1847. Listed on early maps it was named Ivanhoe, the community name changed following the establishment of a Union Church in 1877. The first sanctuary, a one-room structure, was also used as a community center and schoolhouse. The present building was completed in 1913. Classes were conducted here until 1935; the church continues to meet at this site. Annual homecoming memorial services are held each June. 1980