First Christian Church of Commerce
Commerce, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
During the 1850s a number of families from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) settled in the Commerce area and began worshiping together. Services were held in the schoolhouse built on land purchased from William Jernigin in 1872 and later in the Union Church erected in 1880 on Live Oak Street. The Christian Church of Commerce was formally organized in Nov. 1890 during evangelistic services conducted by the Rev. A. C. Henry. The congregation purchased this property in 1891 and completed its first church building in 1893.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Families of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) began settling around Commerce in the 1850s and worshiping together, first in a local schoolhouse and later in a shared Union Church on Live Oak Street. The congregation formally organized in November 1890 during a revival, bought this property in 1891, and finished its first church building in 1893. Its history traces the slow gathering of a frontier faith community into a settled congregation.
Why it matters
The pattern of settlers worshiping in schoolhouses and shared "union" buildings before raising their own churches captures how religious institutions took root across the settling Texas frontier.
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Related people
- · A. C. Henry
- · William Jernigin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jernigin's Store
Commerce, TX
A Tennessee native and former Arkansas legislator, William Jernigin came to Hunt County in 1856 and, in 1872, opened a mercantile store beside a newly bridged trade route over the South Sulphur River. Because the settlement around his store had no name, he simply asked that goods be shipped to "Commerce" — and the name stuck. The town's later rise as a trading center grew directly from his pioneer venture.
First Baptist Church of Commerce
Commerce, TX
Begun in November 1883 with nine charter members as the Missionary Baptist Church of Commerce, this congregation first worshiped in a shared Union church building before raising its own sanctuary. As it outgrew that home, its Women's Missionary Society raised funds for a new site, completed in 1913. Renamed First Baptist in 1933, the church became a civic leader in Commerce and a longtime presence in the life of East Texas State University students.
Josiah Hart Jackson, Texas Ranger
Commerce, TX
Kentucky-born Josiah Hart Jackson reached Texas in 1839 and, in the 1850s, opened a store that seeded a village he called "Cow Hill," complete with race track and blacksmith shop. As postmaster he renamed the place Ashland in 1873, then moved the post office to nearby Commerce at that town's founding. His trading post traces the way a single frontier merchant could conjure a community.
Lebanon Cemetery
Commerce, TX
This ground has served as a burial place since the 1860s, and pioneer settler Rebecca Hart Williams Little—who reached the area in the 1830s—formally deeded it for church and school use in 1871. Among those laid to rest are early settlers, infants and children, and veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars. A one-room school once stood alongside it until 1945.