First Christian Church of Center
Center, Shelby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed in 1856, this congregation is one of the oldest in Shelby County. Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Day, Mr. and Mrs. George King, Major and Mrs. Alfred Truitt, Mr. and Mrs. Leggett, P. F. Southern, Council Billingsley, Alfred Padon, W. S. Dabney, and George Weaver were among its founders. Services were held in a house in Pleasant Grove community until a church building was erected in 1886. Initially led by lay members, the church called the Rev. W. L. Morrow as its first pastor (1893). Built in 1905, the present sanctuary was moved to this site in 1930. In the fellowship now are several descendants of charter members.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Formed in 1856, First Christian Church of Center is among the oldest congregations in Shelby County, gathered by a group of founding families who first worshipped in a house in the Pleasant Grove community. The church erected its first building in 1886 and called its first pastor in 1893 after years of lay leadership. Its present sanctuary, built in 1905, was moved to this site in 1930, and its fellowship still counts descendants of the original charter members.
Why it matters
The congregation's long continuity reflects the enduring role of frontier churches as anchors of community life in East Texas.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Shelby County Courthouse
Center, TX
Irish-born architect J.J.E. Gibson designed this striking Romanesque Revival courthouse to resemble a castle, building it between 1883 and 1885. The site's records had arrived under dramatic circumstances in 1866, secretly spirited away from Shelbyville after a contested election named Center the county seat. Among the notable cases tried here was an 1896 land dispute involving the heirs of Sydney O. Penington, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Shelby County
Center, TX
This corner of East Texas lay within the lawless 'neutral ground' between 1803 and 1819 before Anglo-American settlement began in the 1820s, first organized as the district and then municipality of Tenehaw. Renamed in 1836 to honor Revolutionary War officer Isaac Shelby, the county sent delegates to Texas's early conventions and soldiers to San Jacinto, and its seat moved from Shelbyville to Center in 1866. From 1841 to 1844 it was torn by the Regulator-Moderator Feud, a bloody vigilante conflict finally ended when Republic of Texas troops under Gen. James Smith restored order.
Fairview Cemetery
Center, TX
Founded in 1901 to add burial space alongside the older Methodist churchyard, Fairview became Center's second-oldest cemetery, organized by a seven-member association that bought land tracing back to the Jesse Amason headright survey. Kate Crisp Ricks, an early promoter of the project, was the first buried here in 1902. Its monuments mark many of the civic leaders who built the young town—among them Panzie Annie Rennick Bryarly, the first female member of the Texas Press Association—beneath tall memorials and a white gazebo at the cemetery's heart.
The First Battle
Center, TX
This marks the vicinity of the first clash in the Regulator-Moderator War, a bitter feud that convulsed Shelby County from 1841 to 1844 in the days of the Republic of Texas. What began as a quarrel between rival factions escalated into an unorganized war of ambush and reprisal, ending only when General James Smith led Texas forces in to restore order in August 1844—reportedly without firing a gun.