First Christian Church
Pettus, Bee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1905. First church to serve the needs of Protestants in Pettus. Called a Christian Church at request of land donor, Mrs. S.B. Hodges. Contributions came from all denominations. On August 29, 1906, the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was organized with 25 members. For many years Baptists, Methodists, and Disciples conducted a union Sunday School and worshipped here. Its tall white spire became the town landmark. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1905, this was the first church to serve Protestants in the small South Texas town of Pettus. At the request of land donor Mrs. S. B. Hodges it was called a Christian Church, and contributions came from across denominations; the following year it was formally organized as a Disciples of Christ congregation of twenty-five members. For years Baptists, Methodists and Disciples shared its Sunday School, and its tall white spire became the town's landmark.
Why it matters
Shared frontier-era churches show how small Texas towns pooled their faith and resources to build community when no single denomination could stand alone.
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Related people
- · Mrs. S. B. Hodges
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bee County
Pettus, TX
Carved largely from San Patricio County in 1857 and organized in 1858, Bee County took its name from Barnard E. Bee, who served the Republic of Texas as secretary of war, secretary of state, and minister to the United States. A cattle region since Spanish colonial times, it became an important beef producer after 1865 and gained its first railroad, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass, in 1886. Oil was discovered here in 1929, and the county seat has been at Beeville since 1860.
Town of Pettus
Pettus, TX
Pettus grew up around the sprawling 1850s ranch of John Freeman Pettus, son of one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. The sleepy cattle country woke in 1886 when the San Antonio & Aransas Pass railroad arrived, turning the town into a shipping hub where wood-burning engines took on water—one stop even hosting President Taft's train in 1909. A 1929 oil strike remade it again as the 'oil capital of Bee County.'
Park Hotel
Tuleta, TX
Reinhart C.M. Nelson was one of thousands of Midwesterners drawn to South Texas by land developers' glowing promotional literature, moving his family from Minnesota in 1905. In 1910 he built this hotel, notable for its early use of concrete construction, cast concrete Classical columns, and a welcoming wraparound porch on its park-like grounds. By 1920 it had become a private home.
Tuleta
Tuleta, TX
In 1906 the Rev. Peter Unzicker led a band of Illinois settlers to this South Texas prairie, buying land from an old Spanish grant and founding the town of Tuleta, named for a rancher's daughter. He organized one of Texas's earliest Mennonite churches in 1909, and townspeople opened the innovative Tuleta Agricultural High School the next year. For a time the town thrived as a marketing center for the surrounding farmland.