First Christian Church

This congregation belongs to a movement that crossed the Red River early. The Handbook of Texas says Collin McKinney's Disciples organized a church in Bowie County in 1841, and families from it settled Collin and Grayson counties, where Old Liberty began in 1846 and seeded most North Texas churches. A missionary society formed at Austin in 1886 and a quarrel over instrumental music strained the movement. By 1906 the conservative congregations had broken away as the Church of Christ.

What the plaque says

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) In the 1850s, Disciples in the pioneer town of Bright Star, also known as "The Sulphur Springs," gathered for religious meetings at neighbors' homes and in a vacant store. Two evangelists, the Rev. Charles Carlton and the Rev. J. M. Baird, organized this congregation in 1870. Joseph Hooten, a church elder, acted as interim pastor until the arrival of the first full-time minister, the Rev. Lawrence W. Scott, who served 1871-79. Shortly afterward, this fellowship purchased, in partnership with the First Baptist Church, one-half interest in a white frame sanctuary being vacated by the Methodists. The congregations worshiped on alternate Sundays.The Disciples sold their share to the Baptists in 1884 and constructed a separate church to accommodate the growing membership. This was a clapboard building in the Gothic style with a steep roof, tall arched windows, and a central bell tower and spire. Under the leadership of the Rev. D. Cephas Shelburne, a larger white brick sanctuary was completed in 1914. Classrooms were later annexed and a two-story house on a lot adjoining the church property was purchased for an education building. In 1962 a new sanctuary replaced the old church structure. (1977)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cooper Lake State Park — 15 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• Sulphur Springs Loan and Building Association — steps away
• Site of the Union Stockade — steps away
• City National Bank — steps away
• First United Methodist Church of Sulphur Springs — steps away