Central Presbyterian Church

Trinity University spent four decades in Waxahachie, and this church helped bring it. The Handbook of Texas says Trinity opened at Tehuacana in 1869 and moved to Waxahachie in 1902, where it joined the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and began accepting graduates of the defunct Fairemont Female Seminary at Weatherford as alumnae. On February 25, 1942, the synod voted to take up San Antonio's invitation. The Southwestern Bible Institute moved from Enid, Oklahoma, onto the Waxahachie campus the next year, and it later became Southwestern Assemblies of God College.

What the plaque says

Central Presbyterian Church Central Presbyterian Church Central Presbyterian Church began as a Cumberland Presbyterian church in 1853, with twelve charter members led by the Rev. Daniel G. Molloy. The congregation met in a building on land donated by William Irwin until 1862, when it began sharing space in the Methodist church building with other local churches. The Presbyterian church built its own sanctuary in 1869-70 and moved it to this site in 1892. During the 1890s, the congregation helped bring Trinity University to Waxahachie, which greatly increased membership. Although the university later moved to San Antonio, the church continued to grow in programs, service and outreach, including a close relationship with the Presbyterian Children's Service. (2003)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ellis County Courthouse — 0.3 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.
• Cedar Ridge Preserve — 18 mi
  A 633-acre Audubon Dallas preserve at the western edge of Dallas County, with about nine miles of trails through prairie, woodland and escarpment hills.
• Petroleum Industry Park — 30 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.

More markers nearby

• Site of a Confederate Powder Mill — steps away
• Site of Marvin College — 0.2 mi
• Bessie Coleman — 0.4 mi
• N. P. Sims Library and Lyceum — 0.4 mi