DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, you're standing on a patch of ground in Huntsville, Walker County, that holds a story older than most folks think to ask about — the story of the very first church building ever erected in this town. Not a chapel added on later, not a congregation that moved in after the dust settled.
The first one. And it belonged to the Cumberland Presbyterians. In 1849, two trustees named A.
C. King and T. J.
Caldwell purchased this land on behalf of the congregation, and the building went up soon after. Once it was standing, the sanctuary didn't keep its doors narrow — when the Cumberland Presbyterians weren't using it, other denominations in town were welcome to worship there too. That kind of generosity is worth noting.
Now, before there was a building at all, the congregation had to meet somewhere. Members gathered in homes, in the courthouse, in whatever public buildings would have them, with Reverend Weyman Adair and Reverend Milton Estill providing early leadership and keeping the flock together the best they could. The church itself was symbolic of something larger — the whole Cumberland Presbyterian movement spreading across Texas, built on the backs of itinerant preachers who rode the frontier and carried the faith with them.
The marker names two of them in particular: Sumner Bacon and Andrew Jackson McGown. McGown did something else notable right here in Huntsville — he published the denomination's newspaper, the Texas Presbyterian, starting in 1849, and kept that press running until it ceased publication in 1856. A church and a newspaper, rooted in the same soil.
Then came the hard years. The Civil War tore through this community the way it tore through all of them, and if that weren't enough, 1867 brought a yellow fever epidemic that ravaged Huntsville. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church here did not survive it.
The congregation eventually disbanded. In 1871, the First Christian Church acquired the property, and around 1901 they moved the building itself across the street. After that, it fell into disrepair.
Eventually, it collapsed. Nothing stands here now — no walls, no steeple, no pew. But you're standing where it all began for Huntsville's religious life, and some ground has a way of remembering even when there's nothing left to show for it.
What the marker says
Site of Cumberland Presbyterian Church On this site once stood the first church building erected In Huntsville. In 1849, Cumberland Presbyterian Church trustees A. C. King and T. J. Caldwell purchased this land on behalf of the congregation, and the building was constructed soon thereafter. The sanctuary also served as a house of worship for other denominations in town when it was not in use by the Cumberland Presbyterians. Symbolic of the Cumberland Presbyterian movement in Texas, the Huntsville Church was founded on the pioneering efforts of itinerant preachers in Texas such as Sumner Bacon and Andrew Jackson McGown. McGown published the denomination's newspaper, the Texas Presbyterian, in Huntsville from 1849 until it ceased publication in 1856. Church members first met in homes, in the courthouse or in other public buildings, with the Rev. Weyman Adair and the Rev. Milton Estill providing early leadership to the congregation. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Huntsville succumbed to the ravages of the Civil War and the 1867 yellow fever epidemic and eventually disbanded. The First Christian Church acquired the property in 1871 and moved the building across the street about 1901, after which time it fell into disrepair and eventually collapsed. Although no longer extant, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church remains a significant part of the early religious and cultural history of Huntsville. (2001)