Alpine Presbyterian Church
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Affiliated with Presbyterian Church, U.S.) Founded Dec. 2, 1881, by the Rev. J. DeWitt Burkhead, evangelist. Elders: L. P. and S. F. Henderson and Curtis Mackey. Deacon: J. L. Henderson. Other organizers: C. N. and Mmes. T. C. and Mary Henderson; Miss Mattie and Mrs. R. J. Mackey; Mrs. R. J. williams, all from Longview church. Also Miss Alice, W. M., R. T., and W. H. Henderson, H. G. Lampkin, R. O. Mackey, Miss L. J. Mattox, by professions of faith. Services were held in Tyron School. Members built church in 1885. The new church adjacent was dedicated in 1964. Reached largest membership (122) in 1967.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in December 1881 by evangelist J. DeWitt Burkhead, this East Texas congregation grew from a handful of families who first met in the Tyron School. Members built their own church in 1885, drawing largely on the Henderson and Mackey families who had come from the Longview church. The congregation dedicated a new building in 1964 and reached its peak membership in 1967.
Why it matters
Small rural congregations like this one were the social and educational backbone of Reconstruction-era Texas communities, often sharing quarters with the local school.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. DeWitt Burkhead
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church of Judson
Longview, TX
In the 1870s settlers in this corner of Gregg County gathered for worship in the Lawrenceville School, and in 1883 thirteen Baptists organized their own congregation, naming it for pioneer American missionary Adoniram Judson. They built their first meeting house in 1894, holding baptisms in a nearby creek, and by 1900 the surrounding school district — and later the town and post office — had all taken the Judson name. Anchored by founding families like the Whatleys, the church grew into the enduring heart of the community.
Early Teague Home
Longview, TX
This house is one of the few surviving structures of Earpville, the early settlement that grew into Longview, standing along William T. Brooks's stagecoach line running from Monroe, Louisiana, to Tyler, Texas. Built before 1882 and bought that year by Alabama natives Latimus and Mary Teague, it became a schoolhouse in 1890 when their daughters Molly and Sarah taught classes and music here until the school moved in 1905.
First Methodist Church of Longview
Longview, TX
This congregation dates to 1845, when a one-room log building served the community as church, school, and town hall, tended by circuit-riding ministers until 1850. Following the paths of trade and travel, the congregation moved to Earpville on the stagecoach road in 1860 and then relocated its building to Longview in 1874 after the railroad arrived. It has served the area for more than a century and a half.
Elmira Chapel Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Longview, TX
This East Texas congregation grew out of Sunday School classes that Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church began holding in the Spring Hill Schoolhouse in the late 1880s. Organized in the 1890s under its first resident pastor, the church took its name from Elmira Castleberry, matriarch of a prominent pioneer family whose sons served as founding elders and donated land and materials for a combined school and church building in 1897-98. The congregation remained active in community and missionary work for generations.