First Presbyterian Church of Commerce
Commerce, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In November 1888 seventeen charter members joined with the Rev. J. C. Grow (1841-1903) to organize the First Presbyterian Church of Commerce. The congregation met in the town's Union Church until their own wooden frame sanctuary was completed in 1893. The Rev. Elijah B. Fincher became the church's first full-time resident pastor in 1897. A new brick sanctuary was completed on the corner of Monroe and Caddo streets in 1913, and additional structures have been built over the years. This church has been part of the city's history for over a century.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In November 1888 seventeen charter members joined the Rev. J. C. Grow to organize the First Presbyterian Church of Commerce, worshiping in the town's shared Union Church until they finished their own frame sanctuary in 1893. The Rev. Elijah B. Fincher became the first resident pastor in 1897, and a brick sanctuary rose at Monroe and Caddo streets in 1913. The congregation has been woven into the life of Commerce for more than a century.
Why it matters
The church's founding traces how organized religion helped establish civic order and community identity in the growing North Texas towns of the Gilded Age.
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Related people
- · J. C. Grow
- · Elijah B. Fincher
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Commerce Churches
Commerce, TX
On this ground the Missionary Baptist Church built a sanctuary in 1893, beginning a long chain of congregations that passed through the property over the next seventy years. The Commerce Church of Christ acquired and enlarged the building in the early twentieth century, notable for the many East Texas State Teachers College faculty who served as its elders and preachers. Baptist and later Lutheran congregations owned the site into the 1960s.
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.
Site of Early Commerce Schools
Commerce, TX
By 1883 Commerce had outgrown the public school opened a decade earlier, so the local Educational Association bought this ground for a new two-story frame schoolhouse that became Commerce High School. Fire took that building in 1898, a brick successor followed, and a third school completed in 1937 was later renamed to honor longtime superintendent A. L. Day.
President's House
Commerce, TX
Designed by Greenville architects George Lindsey and Roy Kilmer in 1927, the President's House was built on land bought from Daniel and Annie Bachman to serve as the home of the college's president. Its dark red brick, white trim, and restrained classical details give it an understated Georgian Revival character. After a new president's house was built in 1968 the building became offices, and in 1995 it was renamed "Heritage House" and restored to its 1930s appearance as a heritage center.