First Christian Church

Carroll Kendrick, pastor of the church in the early 1850s, was a physician as well as a preacher. Born in Maury County, Tennessee, in 1815 and educated at Bacon College in Kentucky, he came to Texas as a missionary in 1851 and supported his family by farming, medicine and preaching, living at Palestine, Salado, Bryan and Bastrop. His mother's father, John Parker, was killed in the Fort Parker massacre, and his uncle was the Baptist minister Daniel Parker. In 1855 he published the Christian Philanthropist, reportedly the first Christian Church periodical in Texas.

What the plaque says

First Christian Church Organized in 1847 under leadership of lawyer Joseph A. Clark (founder and administrator of college now T.C.U.) and John F. Taylor, a farmer. Both Clark and Taylor were followers of Campbell - Scott movement for Christian unity. Though 16 charter members were of different faiths, they successfully united through "Articles of Faith" which expressed their basic beliefs. From its very beginning, the church has been of evangelistic nature. A Rev. Mr. Jordan (relinquishing affiliation with the Baptist church) became the first pastor, ministering not only to the newly-formed congregation but to other settlements near and far. In the early 1850s, Rev. Carroll Kendrick became pastor. He too believed in the need for evangelism and pressed Joseph Clark to work with him. Clark set forth strengthening congregations already formed, establishing new churches and expounding the gospel. Interrupted only by the Civil War, evangelistic work by the church continues to this day. The first church building, erected in 1859, was located on Poplar and Fannin streets; the second on Houston and Crawford in 1884; the third, built in 1905, is now used for an educational building. The present church was constructed in 1955. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 3.9 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Don Hastings — steps away
• Kolstad Jewelers — steps away
• Palestine Fire Department — steps away
• Eilenberger's Bakery — steps away