FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
HAMILTON
1880--
Click Picture to see larger view.
OLD
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ON SOUTH COLLEGE, 1942
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH WAS FIRST IN HAMILTON, from June, 1934, Hamilton County News
REV.
J. W. CAMPBELL - Pastor in 1934
STEEPLE FOR FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The First Presbyterian Church was organized on 5
September, 1880, by Rev. John A. McMurray, evangelist of the Central
Texas Presbytery. The nine charter member were M. S. Howard, N. C.
Howard, D. L. Reynolds, Emma Veridet, Andrew Miller, Mr. and Mrs. A. J.
Foster, and W. T. Cropper. The Presbyterian congregation
built the first church building in Hamilton in early 1882 on College
Street. Rough thick floor joists were put together with wooden pegs.
The Presbyterians graciously shared their building with the Baptists
and the Episcopalians. In 1924 a lot on North Rice was
purchased for $300 for a manse and by 1929 a brick manse valued at $1500
was completed. In 1947 Ed A. Perry donated property adjacent to the
manse and Joe Schooler with Maude (his faithful, small but
powerful, and old truck) moved the First Presbyterian Church from College
Street to North Rice Street in May, 1947. Following the
move the church was refinished on the inside and brick-veneered on the
outside. The old church remained the sanctuary and additional space was
added on two levels on the east side.
Some of the other members have been Nathan Abernethy,
J. E. and Ann Alexander, Walter Anglin, Willis Arnett, George H. Boynton,
Jr., Mrs. Harry (Lucille) Boynton, Mrs. Lou Brunk, Main Brunk, Q. Brunk,
William Guffie Barkley, Mavis Olivia (Doggett) Barkley, William
Wood Barkley , Ada A. (Mariott) Barkley, James W. Blackwell,
Bill Boyd, Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Boynton, Q. Brunk, Sam Butler, Jr., C. C.
Carlton, Elizabeth Stiles Cathey, E. F. Catterton, George Chambliss, Ovid
Dill, Mrs. John Duffy, Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Chesley, Mrs. J. Ted Chesley, Ed
Craig, H. E. Craig, E. H. Davis, C. R. Edgar, Carl Emmett, Mr. and Mrs.
George R. Golightly, Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Gordon, Mr. and Mrs. J. H.
Gordon, Mary Scott Gould, Wesley Hall, Hal Havens, A. C. Hayes, W. A.
Haynes, Frank Holmes, J. G. Jones, W. Lee Jones, Carl Knelly, Dr. Robert
A. Kooken, Jr., Dr. and Mrs. R. A. Kooken, Sr., Judge and Mrs. Hal A.
Leaverton, R. W. Loyd, Mrs. Leila Main, M. M. McInnis, Mrs. Anna McKinley,
T. S. McKinley, Sr., W. H. McKinley, Mrs. Della May, James Robert Miller,
John Hardy Morgan, Lew Nichols, Ed A. Perry, Frances Pulatti, Gilbert
Rabbe, J. M. Roddy, Mitchell Sauer, Mrs. R. F. (Maggie) Scoggins, Mr. and
Mrs. George B. Scott, Harry Smith, E. B. Stiles, Harold H. Stroud, Jr.,
Cecil Robert "Bob" Tate, C. R. Taylor, Horace Taylor, Mrs. W. F.
Taylor, A. L. Vick, Ronald Wenzel, Jake and Lillian Wilhelm, Dr.
and Mrs. Sterling Price Williams, Dan and Maurine Wilkerson, R. L.
"Bob" Wilson, and Mr. and Mrs. Leon
York.
The original portion of the First Presbyterian Church
is the third oldest structure in Hamilton. The residences at 201
West Ross Street and 200 West Main Street are the oldest
structures in Hamilton. In 1923 the Women’s Auxiliary of the First
Presbyterian Church organized a worship circle at
Leesville (Union.)