Fourth-Sunday Singing
Commerce, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Held on fourth Sunday of each month) A monthly music "convention" founded in 1885 or 1890 by this church, at old location (1/2 mile east.) Began when G. J. Oslin of Arkansas held a 20-day music school here. Singers came from wide area; a tuning fork was used to give pitch until instruments were obtained. The present officers are J. G. Murphy, president, and Mrs. Ola Speight, secretary. Also in 1885, the village of "Hoover's Gin" was founded near here by John T. Hoover, merchant.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the 1880s a traveling Arkansas singing master named G. J. Oslin held a twenty-day music school here, and out of it grew a monthly singing "convention" that gathered voices from across the region. In the early years a tuning fork alone set the pitch until instruments could be obtained. The tradition, held on the fourth Sunday of each month, took root alongside the founding of the nearby village once known as Hoover's Gin.
Why it matters
Shape-note and convention singing were the living musical culture of the rural South, and this gathering shows how a single itinerant teacher could seed a communal tradition that outlasted him by generations.
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Related people
- · G. J. Oslin
- · John T. Hoover
Themes & tags
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