First Presbyterian Church
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By 1870, the Presbyterian Church in the United States sent the Rev. R.E. Sherrill to organize new congregations in northeast Texas. He led a group of Sherman residents in forming a church in 1871, and by late 1874 the members had constructed a sanctuary on Travis Street, between Pecan and Mulberry streets. Throughout the 1870s, the city of Sherman grew as a result of new rail lines through the community. The congregation, known as First Presbyterian Church, grew along with the city. By 1886, the church had established a chapel in a growing part of town, and in 1894 the congregation moved to a larger sanctuary at the corner of Travis and Mulberry. After Austin College moved to Sherman in 1876, First Presbyterian fostered a strong relationship with its students and faculty, leading to the creation of a new congregation, the College Park Presbyterian Church, closer to campus. First Church and the school's pre-ministerial students also established a short-lived Sunday School mission in the 1940s. During the 20th century, First Church's members maintained other educational services, including kindergarten and pre-school programs, as well as foreign mission projects. For more than a century, First Presbyterian Church grew and served its community, building new facilities as needed. The congregation developed close ties with the Trinity United Presbyterian congregation (Sherman), with which it united in 1995, forming Covenant Presbyterian Church. Today, Covenant Presbyterian continues the programs and services established by its historic congregations in their decades of work and worship in Sherman. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1871 by the Rev. R.E. Sherrill, First Presbyterian Church of Sherman grew alongside a city booming from new rail lines through northeast Texas. After Austin College relocated to Sherman in 1876, the congregation forged lasting ties with its students and faculty, even spinning off a campus-area church, and later ran kindergarten and pre-school programs. In 1995 it united with Trinity United Presbyterian to form Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Why it matters
The congregation illustrates how railroads, a relocated college, and Presbyterian mission work shaped a growing Gilded Age Texas town.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the years after the Civil War, North Texas was a region on the rise. Sherman, the seat of Grayson County near the Red River, had been founded in the 1840s, but it was during the 1870s that it really began to grow. New railroad lines reached the town during that decade, linking it to markets and bringing new residents, businesses and money.
The nation, meanwhile, was living through Reconstruction and the early Gilded Age. Railroads were reshaping American geography, turning crossroads into commercial towns and drawing settlers westward. Across the South, churches were rebuilding and reorganizing after the war, and denominations were sending ministers into growing regions to plant new congregations.
Presbyterians in the South had their own denomination at the time. The Civil War had split American Presbyterians along regional lines, and the southern body, the Presbyterian Church in the United States, was actively working to establish churches in places like Texas. Sending a missionary pastor to organize congregations in the northeast part of the state was part of that effort.
Education was another major force in Sherman's growth. In 1876 Austin College, a Presbyterian school that had been founded earlier in Huntsville, moved to Sherman. The arrival of a college shaped the town's character for generations, and it shaped this church's story too.
People & events
Around 1870 the Presbyterian Church in the United States sent the Rev. R.E. Sherrill into northeast Texas with a mission: start new churches. In Sherman he found a group of residents ready to form one, and in 1871 they organized their congregation. By late 1874 they had built their own sanctuary on Travis Street, between Pecan and Mulberry.
The church grew right along with the railroad town around it. By 1886 it had opened a chapel in a developing part of Sherman, reaching people where the city was spreading. In 1894 the congregation moved into a larger sanctuary at the corner of Travis and Mulberry, just down the street from where it had begun.
Austin College's move to Sherman in 1876 opened a new chapter. First Presbyterian built a close relationship with the college's students and teachers, and that bond eventually led to the founding of a separate congregation, College Park Presbyterian Church, closer to campus. In the 1940s the church joined with the college's pre-ministerial students to run a Sunday school mission, although it did not last long.
In the twentieth century the congregation kept its focus on teaching, offering kindergarten and preschool programs and supporting mission work overseas. Over the years it built close ties with another Sherman Presbyterian church, Trinity United. In 1995 the two joined to form Covenant Presbyterian Church, which carries on the work of both.
Its place in the American story
First Presbyterian Church of Sherman shows how three big forces of the late nineteenth century came together in one American town: railroads, missionary church building and higher education. The rails brought the people, the denomination sent the minister, and the college gave the community a lasting intellectual center. A church sat right where all three met.
Its story also connects to one of the deepest divisions in American religious life. Like several major Protestant denominations, Presbyterians split along North-South lines during the Civil War era, and the separate southern church that sent Rev. Sherrill to Texas existed for well over a century. The national reunion of the two main branches in 1983 was a significant moment in American religious history. The 1995 union that created Covenant Presbyterian in Sherman came in the years after that broader reconciliation.
Presbyterians in America have long placed a strong emphasis on education, from colleges to Sunday schools to early childhood programs. This congregation's close relationship with Austin College and its kindergarten and preschool work are local expressions of that national tradition.
And like many downtown congregations across the country, First Presbyterian eventually joined with a sister church. Mergers like that are part of the modern story of American Protestantism, as congregations adapt to changing towns while keeping their history alive.
If you visit
Sherman has a solid, historic downtown that reflects its days as a booming railroad and county-seat town. It is worth parking and exploring on foot, especially if you like late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century commercial architecture.
As you take in the marker, try tracing the congregation's early geography. Travis Street, Pecan and Mulberry are the streets where the church built its first sanctuary and later its larger one, so a walk in that direction gives you a feel for the setting where it started. Keep in mind that today's Covenant Presbyterian carries on the work of First Presbyterian, so the church's living story continues under its new name.
To understand why education runs so deep in this congregation's history, visit the Austin College campus. Seeing the college that shaped so much of the church's life helps the marker's story fall into place.
Sherman sits on the north Texas route toward the Red River and Oklahoma, which makes it a convenient stop on a drive north from the Dallas area. Pair this marker with the Trinity United Presbyterian marker nearby to see both halves of the congregation that came together as Covenant Presbyterian. As always, be respectful of church grounds and services.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Rev. R.E. Sherrill
Related events
- · Formation of Covenant Presbyterian Church (1995)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Trinity United Presbyterian Church
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