First Presbyterian Church Building
Anson, Jones County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. Donald Frazier and nine charter members organized the First Presbyterian Church of Anson in 1882. This structure, the congregation's third sanctuary, was built in 1929. After membership declined in the 1970s, the congregation was dissolved in 1984. The building was donated to the city of Anson for use as a community museum. A simple vernacular structure, it features minimal brick detailing and stained glass windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1990.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The First Presbyterian Church of Anson was organized in 1882 by the Rev. Donald Frazier and nine charter members. This simple, vernacular sanctuary — the congregation's third — was built in 1929 with modest brick detailing and stained glass. When membership dwindled in the 1970s the congregation dissolved in 1984, and the building was given to the city of Anson to serve as a community museum.
Why it matters
The building's journey from frontier congregation to community museum mirrors the rise, decline, and reinvention of countless small West Texas town institutions.
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Related people
- · Rev. Donald Frazier
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jones County Courthouse
Anson, TX
Named for Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, Jones County was created in 1858 but not fully organized until 1881—its founding delayed by the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the raw West Texas frontier. After a succession of modest courthouses, the county built its grand Beaux Arts landmark in 1910, crowned by a statue of Lady Justice atop a domed clock tower. Decorative painting later uncovered in the district courtroom reveals Arts and Crafts touches beneath the classical grandeur.
Jones County
Anson, TX
This corner of west Texas was crossed by an emigrant trail and a frontier military road guarded by Fort Phantom Hill, founded in 1851. The county was named for Anson Jones, a San Jacinto veteran and the last president of the Republic of Texas. Phantom Hill served as a Butterfield Overland Mail station in 1858-61 and then as a Civil War patrol point trying to curb frontier raids, before the county was fully organized in 1881 with Anson as its seat.
First United Methodist Church of Anson
Anson, TX
This West Texas congregation was gathered in 1882 by a Methodist circuit rider, one of the saddle-worn preachers who carried the faith across the frontier. In 1908 a local builder raised the Romanesque Revival sanctuary that still anchors the town, its bell tower later trimmed down against the prairie winds. For more than a century the church has grown right alongside Anson itself.
Cowboys' Christmas Ball
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In 1885 a dance for cowboys and ladies at the Star Hotel in Anson so inspired visiting writer Larry Chittenden that he penned "The Cowboys' Christmas Ball," a poem naming real people and ranches of 1880s Jones County. Revived in the 1930s, the tradition drew national fame, even reaching the White House lawn, and settled into Pioneer Hall built with WPA help. Held every year with grand marches, waltzes, and period dress, it keeps a piece of frontier Texas alive.