Presbyterian Church of the Covenant

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight. Two congregations, one city, and a story that takes the better part of a century to reach its finish. Pull up a chair.

It's worth the ride. On February 18, 1900, the First Presbyterian Church of Port Arthur was organized with eighteen charter members. The man who brought them together was the Reverend F.

E. Robbins, coming over from the First Presbyterian Church of Beaumont to get things started. Eighteen people.

That's it. That's your foundation. But they didn't sit still long.

By September of that same year, the congregation had already called its own pastor, the Reverend F. J. Pankey, and they were off and running.

Now, Port Arthur being Port Arthur, one Presbyterian church was apparently not going to be enough. On October 19, 1924, the Reverend W. A.

Ziegler and forty-three members established a second congregation, the Westminster Presbyterian Church, right there in Port Arthur. Their first pastor was the Reverend Frank W. Langham.

Two flocks. Same city. Same faith.

Both of them growing, and both of them, in time, moving to new facilities to keep up with that growth. In 1966, First Presbyterian Church dedicated a church building on this very site. Roots down, walls up, and the story deepening.

Then comes April 8, 1979. That's the day First Presbyterian and Westminster Presbyterian merged, adopting the name Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Decades of separate history, two sets of pews, two lines of pastors going all the way back to that winter morning in 1900, and then, one day, one congregation.

The marker says the congregation continues a tradition of worship, religious education, and service. Eighteen charter members in 1900 would probably smile at that.

What the marker says

The First Presbyterian Church of Port Arthur ws organized with 18 charter members on February 18, 1900, by the Rev. F. E. Robbins of the First Presbyterian Church of Beaumont. The Port Arthur congregation called its own pastor the Rev. F. J. Pankey, in September. The Rev. W. A. Ziegler and 43 members established the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Port Arthur on October 19, 1924. The Rev. Frank W. Langham was called as first pastor. As both congregations grew, they each relocated to new facilities. In 1966 First Presbyterian Church dedicated a church building on this site. First Presbyterian and Westminster Presbyterian churches merged on April 8, 1979, adopting the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The congregation continues a tradition of worship, religious education and service. (2000)