Westminster Presbyterian Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. On May 16, 1853, a reverend by the name of John Patton gathered about twenty Cumberland Presbyterians together in Corsicana. That was the first organized church in the whole town.

Not bad for a small company of believers with a big idea. Now, you might think that's where the story ends. It is not even close to where the story ends.

Other Presbyterians had their own plans. The First Church, U.S., organized in 1868. Then came an Associate Reformed Church in 1895, and that congregation turned around in 1908 and joined the United Presbyterian church.

Meanwhile, back with the Cumberland congregation, things got complicated. There was a split, as there often is when people care deeply about something. A surviving group came out the other side of that split, and by 1912 they had affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

So now you've got all these separate congregations, each with its own history, its own story, its own reasons for being. And then, in 1949, something remarkable happened. All of those congregations merged.

Every one of them. They came together under one roof and one name: Westminster Presbyterian Church. The story doesn't stop there either.

In 1968, the Bethel Mexican group joined Westminster. What started with twenty people on a May afternoon in 1853 had, by then, grown into something none of those original twenty could have fully imagined, a church built from the joining of many.

What the marker says

On May 16, 1853, the Rev. John Patton and about 20 Cumberland Presbyterians formed the first organized church in Corsicana. Other Presbyterians organized later: The First Church, U. S., in 1868; and an Associate Reformed Church (1895) that in 1908 joined the United Presbyterian church. The Cumberland congregation split, and a surviving group (1912) affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. All these congregations merged in 1949 in the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The Bethel Mexican group joined Westminster in 1968.