First Christian Church of Paradise
Paradise, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
During the late 1880s, members of this church held home worship services in Old Town, the original Paradise townsite (1.5 miles southwest). The arrival of the Rock Island Railroad sent residents to this location, which was nearer to the rail line. Sometime after the move, the First Christian Church of Paradise was chartered. During the early 1900s, three of the twenty-nine charter members became the original trustees. Merchant M. D. Cansler, school superintendent S. L. Atkins, and land owner and cotton farmer Fred Harms were responsible for purchasing the land and constructing a building for the church. This Gothic revival structure was built about 1905 by local contractor Will Plymell. The steeple houses the original church bell. At one time, the number of attending members dwindled to as few as three, yet worship services have continued to be held throughout the church's history. Over the years the First Christian Church of Paradise has reflected the determination and ideals of its founders. With historic ties to the old and new Paradise townsites, it is a significant part of the area's heritage.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the late 1880s this congregation began with home worship services in the original Paradise townsite, but the arrival of the Rock Island Railroad drew residents to a new location nearer the tracks, and the church followed. Merchant, school superintendent, and farmer among its early trustees bought land and built the Gothic Revival church about 1905, its steeple still holding the original bell. Membership once dwindled to as few as three, yet services never ceased.
Why it matters
The church's move shows how the railroad literally reshaped Texas towns, pulling communities — and their houses of worship — toward the new lines of commerce.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · M. D. Cansler
- · S. L. Atkins
- · Fred Harms
- · Will Plymell
Related events
- · Arrival of the Rock Island Railroad
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Old Town Paradise
Paradise, TX
One of Wise County's earliest settlers, O.H.P. Read, made his home here in 1858 in a community first called Eldorado, where William M. Anderson opened a general store and surveyor Ben Banks laid out a town square. Renamed Paradise after a post office naming conflict in 1876, the town shifted northeast in the 1890s to be near the new Rock Island rail line, and "old" Paradise faded away by 1927 as its cotton crops failed. Today only a home built by Confederate Lt. William Hall Jay remains on the old square.
Hunt, Col. William Hudson
Bridgeport, TX
Born in New York in 1815, William Hudson Hunt came to Texas in 1836 to join the fight for independence, then served the young Republic as a soldier and surveyor—helping locate the site of the capital and joining the Santa Fe Expedition. In 1855 he pioneered Wise County, building a ranch on the West Fork of the Trinity, laying out the town that became Decatur, and helping route the Butterfield Overland Mail through the county. His remains were reinterred here after Lake Bridgeport flooded his family cemetery.
Toll Bridge & Old Bridgeport
Bridgeport, TX
When Butterfield's Overland Mail crossed this stretch of the West Fork of the Trinity around 1860, a reliable river crossing was essential, and Colonel W. H. Hunt built a chartered toll bridge just to the west. The mail line collapsed with the coming of the Civil War, but a settlement had taken root; a Decatur merchant spanned the river again with an iron bridge in 1873, and the town shifted when the railroad arrived in 1893.
Butterfield Overland Stage Line
Decatur, TX
From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Mail rolled through Decatur on its 2,795-mile run linking St. Louis and San Francisco with semi-weekly stage and mail service. The route was one of the great logistical feats of its era, knitting the far-flung antebellum nation together across deserts and plains until the Civil War severed the southern line.