First Presbyterian Church of Palacios
Palacios, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The First Presbyterian Church of Palacios was organized by the Rev. W.S. Red on June 30, 1907, in the local Methodist Church Pioneer Hall. Eighteen people joined the congregation that day, many of them active in the early growth of Palacios itself. William Clement was elected ruling elder. Duncan Ruthven, a founding member, was elected mayor when Palacios was incorporated in 1909. A church building was completed at Third and Morton streets in 1910, built at a cost of $5,393.02. In May 1911 the congregation called Dr. J. P. Green as its first full-time pastor, and the church was chartered by the state of Texas that November. By 1912 church organizations included the Sunday School, the Westminster League, and a Ladies' Aid and Missionary Society. The congregation established a Mexican mission that year. An education building was completed in 1948. during World War II, a soldiers' center operated by the church was important to nearby Camp Hulen. A new sanctuary was dedicated in 1951. The Mexican mission became the second Presbyterian church of Palacios in 1955. The congregation has long been active in the cooperation of religious denominations and the improvement of racial relations in Palacios. Church women worked toward the desegregation of Palacios public schools in the 1960s and, with Methodist, Catholic and Baptist churches, members sponsored a multi-racial tutorial program. In 1975 the congregation sponsored a Vietnamese family immigrating to the United States. The First Presbyterian Church of Palacios continues in the traditions of its founders, active in worship and in service to its diverse community and its mission worldwide. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1907 by the Rev. W. S. Red with eighteen charter members, the First Presbyterian Church of Palacios completed its first building in 1910 and was chartered by the state in 1911, its members among the town's civic founders. During World War II the church ran a soldiers' center serving nearby Camp Hulen, and in the decades that followed its women worked toward desegregating Palacios schools and ran a multiracial tutorial program with other congregations. In 1975 the church sponsored a Vietnamese refugee family, continuing a long tradition of outward-facing service.
Why it matters
The congregation's history threads through the great currents of 20th-century America, from wartime mobilization to the civil rights struggle to refugee resettlement in a small Gulf Coast town.
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Related people
- · W. S. Red
- · Duncan Ruthven
Themes & tags
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