First Presbyterian Church
Colorado City, Mitchell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On the second Sunday of January, 1881, The Rev. O.F. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister and school teacher from Mississippi, preached the first sermon ever heard in Colorado (City). The congregation met in a saloon, only large place in the tent town. The bar was covered with wagon sheets and after the sermon, a collection was taken for the minister. A dug-out, floored with corn sacks and equipped with boxes for seats, housed the first formal church, organized in May with 11 charter members. W.J. Miller was installed as elder and the church was placed under control of the Texas Central Presbytery. In a few weeks, a tent was erected to accommodate church services, Sunday school and public school. P.O. Coleman, prominent doctor and educator, and J.E. Riordan, banker, were then named elders. Later, church members worshipped in the newly built school house. The first permanent church building, located at Locust and Second Streets, was dedicated May 3, 1891. The first trustees were Dr. P.C. Coleman, W.J. Miller, William Kennedy, C.A. Arbuthnot and John Carlisle. The present church building was completed August 30, 1925, when The Rev. W.M. Elliott was Pastor. An education unit was added, 1957, under The Rev. Earl Clary, Pastor. (1969)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On a January Sunday in 1881, a Presbyterian minister preached the first sermon ever heard in the tent town of Colorado City — inside a saloon, its bar draped in wagon sheets, with a collection taken up afterward. From a dugout floored with corn sacks the congregation grew, moving through tents and schoolhouses to permanent brick sanctuaries.
Why it matters
The story captures how organized religion followed hard on the heels of the railroad into raw West Texas boomtowns, planting community roots in places barely a season old.
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Related people
- · O.F. Rogers
- · W.J. Miller
Themes & tags
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