First Christian Church

The church's 1909 building rose in the years of a land rush. When the state ended ranchers' free use of public land, it sent agents across West Texas to collect rents, and between 1901 and 1905 state law let individuals buy four sections of school land on generous credit. Settlers poured into Reeves County, and the rush went on after 1905, when the law was changed to award land to the highest bidder. The county's population more than doubled in a decade, to 4,392 in 1910. A drought in 1916 drove many of those families off their farms.

What the plaque says

First Christian Church This congregation grew out of a community Sunday School begun by Nancy (Galloway) Parker (1827-1907) in the Parker Hotel in 1881. One participant, pharmacist B. P. Van Horn (1862-1932), arranged a revival in 1891 that resulted in formation of the First Christian Church, the first church to be organized in Pecos. Van Horn acted as lay leader since there was no minister. When he left in 1895, the church disbanded until Mary (Tucker) Vickers (1868-1950) and Lena (Van Horn) Gage (1865-1920) started a Ladies Aid Society in 1898. The society planned another revival which reactivated the fellowship. In 1899 lawyer R. D. Gage donated land for construction of a small sanctuary. One new member who joined the congregation during this period was Dr. Jim Camp (1877-1964), who served Pecos as a physician for over 60 years. In 1905 the Rev. Homer Magee (1882-1921) became full-time pastor. That same year, the church building was moved to this site. Plans for the present structure were made in 1908, after a revival led by the Rev. J. L. Haddock. In 1909 contractor E. B. Kiser completed this edifice, the oldest brick church building in Pecos. Educational facilities were added during pastorates of the Rev. Dr. Oliver Harrison, 1936-41, and the Rev. Earl Bissex, 1952, Remodeling was completed in 1974, under the leadership of the Rev. Clark Ford. (1975, 2019)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Roy Orbison Museum — 30 mi
  A volunteer-run room in the oil town where Roy Orbison spent his high school years, opened on request, with a guitar he played and his tinted prescription sunglasses.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Pecos City — steps away
• George R. Reeves — steps away
• Reeves County — 0.3 mi
• The Pecos Cantaloupe — 0.3 mi