First Presbyterian Church
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized Nov. 3, 1849, with 18 charter members, by the great pioneer leaders, Revs. Daniel Baker and John May Becton, home missionaries. This Gothic building of handmade brick was erected in 1888; enlarged since by two additions. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The First Presbyterian Church of Palestine was organized in 1849 with eighteen charter members by pioneering home missionaries Daniel Baker and John May Becton. Its Gothic-style sanctuary of handmade brick was raised in 1888 and expanded with two later additions. The building stands as a landmark of early Presbyterian settlement in East Texas.
Why it matters
Traveling home missionaries like Baker and Becton planted churches across the young state, weaving religious institutions into the fabric of Texas frontier communities.
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Related people
- · Rev. Daniel Baker
- · Rev. John May Becton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Anderson County Courthouse
Palestine, TX
Anderson County was carved out by the Texas Legislature in 1846 and named for Kenneth L. Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas. Justice was first dispensed in a log house at Fort Houston, and the county worked through four courthouses — a frame building, two brick ones, and finally the grand Beaux-Arts structure completed in 1913-14 after fire claimed its predecessor. With giant Ionic columns and a dome crowned by a statue of Justice, the present courthouse still anchors the Palestine square.
Anderson County
Palestine, TX
Anderson County was created from Houston County on March 24, 1846, and organized that July with Palestine as its seat, just months after Texas joined the Union. It was named to honor Kenneth Lewis Anderson, who had served as vice-president of the Republic of Texas in its final years.
Micham Main
Palestine, TX
Little is documented of Micham Main before his 1820 marriage to Elizabeth Van Winkle in Illinois, but in 1833 the lure of favorable Mexican colonization laws drew the family to the Nacogdoches District of what became Texas. He received a land grant in David G. Burnet's colony in 1835, farmed as required, and briefly served in the Republic of Texas army in 1836. When Anderson County was created in 1846, Main was one of three Illinois-Palestine men appointed to choose and name the county seat—Palestine—though later accounts credit fellow settler John Parker with the naming.
First Baptist Church of Palestine
Palestine, TX
Organized in 1851, just five years after Palestine became the Anderson County seat, this Baptist congregation first worshiped in a shared chapel before building its own sanctuary in 1853 and hosting the state convention in 1854. A dramatic 1879 revival led by Major William Penn fueled a new building funded by nickel contributions, earning it the nickname the Avenue "Nickel" Baptist Church. Fire, rebuilding, and relocation carried the fellowship into the twentieth century.