Central Presbyterian Church

The word Cumberland in this congregation's first name points to a frontier dispute. According to Wikipedia, Cumberland Presbyterians took shape in Tennessee in 1810 after the Cumberland Presbytery ordained preachers without the usual college training and let them accept the Westminster Confession only in part. In 1906, the year this Waco church dropped Cumberland and became Central Presbyterian, just over half of the denomination's congregations rejoined the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The plaque gives no reason for the new name and does not say the two events are connected.

What the plaque says

Central Presbyterian Church This church was established as Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Waco by 18 charter members in 1869. The Rev. William Dillard served as first pastor. Led by the Rev. D. C. Kinnard, the congregation built a 2-story brick sanctuary in 1873 which also housed the public school in Waco. A frame sanctuary was built here in 1903, and in 1906 the church was renamed Central Presbyterian Church. The congregation built a brick sanctuary with elaborate stained glass windows at this site in 1921-22. Central Presbyterian Chruch serves the community with a variety of programs. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995 The Congregation moved to the present site in 2004. (Supplemental Plate 2004)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dr Pepper Museum — 6.9 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Armstrong Browning Library — 6.9 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 7.2 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 7.4 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.

More markers nearby

• Providence Sanitarium — 1.9 mi
• Site of Waco Boating and Fishing Club — 2.1 mi
• Hewitt Baptist — 3.1 mi
• Brazos River Transmission Electric Cooperative — 3.1 mi