Pleasanton Church of Christ

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Pleasanton Church of Christ in Atascosa County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good long while. Records show a Church of Christ congregation has existed in Atascosa County since at least 1858, when folks were gathering at the head of Lucas Creek.

That's before the Civil War was even finished, before half the towns in this part of Texas had names. Church was already happening out here. Fast forward to around 1910, and a group of Pleasanton women, led by Texana Holder Brite, started holding Church of Christ services right in their own homes.

No building, no steeple, just conviction and a parlor. As membership grew, those services moved to the grounds of the former Atascosa County Courthouse, which had been vacated when the county seat moved from Pleasanton to Jourdanton. So they were worshipping in the shadow of a courthouse that county business had already left behind.

There's a certain poetry in that. In 1914, three trustees of the Pleasanton congregation took the next step. Martha Jane Price Hines, Mahalia Elizabeth Duck Morris, and Victor Hilton Tumlinson purchased land for a church.

The property was Lot Number 12 in Block Number 1 in the Franklin Place Addition, and on that lot, in 1924, a small frame church building was constructed. Now here is the part worth sitting with. The women of this congregation were, by all accounts, its driving force.

They started it, they sustained it, they built toward it. And yet, they were not allowed to preach. So men came in from San Antonio on Sundays to do the preaching.

The women built the house. Others came to speak in it. That's the story the marker tells, plainly and without flinching, and it deserves to be said that plainly.

Until the 1930s, baptisms were conducted at Martin's Swimming Pool, on a hill at the west end of Franklin Street. Three long-time Sunday School teachers kept the congregation's roots deep: Nanny Mauldin, Mrs. Morris Pruett, and Iris Andrews.

Then in 1935, the church hired its first full-time preacher, a man named John Lee Norris. From there, the congregation kept reaching outward. A radio ministry broadcast from 1952 to 1959.

Beginning in 1959, the church began sponsoring missionaries to Guatemala. A jail ministry took root. Vacation Bible School, too.

Community and missionary outreach, the marker says, have been important parts of this church's life throughout the years. Started in someone's living room by a handful of determined women, the Pleasanton Church of Christ is still standing, still serving, still a spiritual and community leader in Atascosa County. Some things you build with your own hands have a way of lasting.

What the marker says

Records show that a Church of Christ congregation has existed in Atascosa County since at least 1858, when a congregation met at the head of Lucas Creek. A group of Pleasanton women, led by Texana (Holder) Brite, began holding Church of Christ services in their homes around 1910. As church membership increased, services were held on the grounds of the former Atascosa County Courthouse, vacated when the county seat moved from Pleasanton to Jourdanton. In 1914, Martha Jane (Price) Hines, Mahalia Elizabeth (Duck) Morris and Victor Hilton Tumlinson purchased land for a church as trustees of the Pleasanton congregation. The property was located at Lot No. 12 in Block No. 1 in the Franklin Place Addition; a small frame church building was constructed on the lot in 1924. Although the women of the congregation were its driving force, they were not allowed to preach, so men from San Antonio came to town on Sundays to do so. Until the 1930s, baptisms were held in Martin's Swimming Pool, on a hill at the west end of Franklin Street. Three long-time Sunday School teachers within the congregation were Nanny Mauldin, Mrs. Morris Pruett and Iris Andrews. The church's first full-time preacher, John Lee Norris, was hired in 1935. Community and missionary outreach have been important parts of the church's activities throughout the years. A radio ministry was broadcast by the church 1952-1959. Missionaries to Guatemala were sponsored by the church beginning in 1959. A jail ministry and Vacation Bible School have also been established. Today, Pleasanton Church of Christ continues as a spiritual and community leader. (2010)