Site of Commerce Churches

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. There's a corner in Hunt County where the ground itself has heard more sermons than most folks hear in a lifetime. Let me walk you through it.

Back in 1887, the Missionary Baptist Church acquired five acres here from a man named George Lawson. They held onto that land, made their plans, and in 1893 they raised a sanctuary right on this spot. Built it, preached in it, called it their own.

Then, in 1912, they sold the property. One chapter closed. But the ground wasn't done with church business, not by a long shot.

The very next year, 1913, the Commerce Church of Christ stepped in and took ownership. They worshipped here, grew here, and by 1923 they decided that original 1893 building needed to be something more. They modified it, enlarged it, gave it new life while keeping the old bones.

Now here's a detail the marker wants you to appreciate. The Commerce Church of Christ was notable, that's the word the marker uses, notable, for the number of East Texas State Teachers College faculty members who served as elders and preachers for their congregation. Professors stepping into pulpits.

That's a congregation with some intellectual horsepower in the pews and behind the lectern both. Then the calendar kept moving. In 1964, Baptist congregations from Paris and Greenville came together and purchased the property.

Two congregations, two towns, one piece of ground with a long memory. They held it for a few years, and in 1967 they sold the church complex to the Trinity Lutheran Church. Different name on the door, same corner of Hunt County, still carrying the weight of every congregation that came before.

From George Lawson's five acres in 1887 to the Trinity Lutheran Church in 1967, this ground just kept finding somebody with something to say and a reason to say it together.

What the marker says

In 1893 the Missionary Baptist Church erected a sanctuary here on 5 acres they acquired from George Lawson in 1887. The church sold the property in 1912. In 1913 the Commerce Church of Christ acquired the property and in 1923 they modified and enlarged the 1893 building. The Church of Christ was notable for the number of East Texas State Teachers College faculty members who served as elders and preachers for their congregation. Baptist congregations from Paris and Greenville purchased the property in 1964, then sold the church complex to the Trinity Lutheran Church in 1967. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995