First Presbyterian Church

A report in the Sunday Gazetteer of September 27, 1885, gives a snapshot of the church thirteen years after its organization. About seventy-five members had joined in roughly two and a half years under the current pastor. The congregation had raised nearly $2,000 for its own work, paid the pastor monthly, repaired the church and parsonage, and furnished his study. Sunday school enrolled 125 scholars under Elder Sam Hanna, and a Ladies' Aid Society under Mrs. Coffin won the paper's praise. Dr. A. W. Acheson, W. W. Bennett and J. Jacoby were listed as officers beside Hanna.

What the plaque says

First Presbyterian Church The Presbyterian Board of Home Missions commissioned Reverend Josiah Milligan to oversee Presbyterian outreach in Texas. Rev. Milligan chose to office in Denison and began holding services in his living room. On December 22, 1872, he organized the First Presbyterian Church in Denison. Charter members were Samuel and Sarah Hanna, Alex and Sarah Acheson, Rebecca Craighead, Eugene Sutta, Mrs. M.B. Milligan, Mary Milligan, Martha Nevins, S.H. Ruthraff, and C.B. and Ella Berry. Seeking a larger meeting space, the congregation petitioned the mayor to hold worship services in the town hall until land was donated by the Denison Town Company for a permanent church home. A simple, wood frame building was completed in January of 1874. In 1900, the structure was enlarged, but burned in a fire two years later. The structure was rebuilt in 1904, with a new educational building and chapel added in 1951. In 1966, the 1904 building was razed in order to build a new sanctuary that is still used today. The congregation often volunteered their time to help those in need. During the last winter of World War II, the ladies of the church met wartime troop trains at Denison's Katy depot with offers of sandwiches, cookies, coffee, and conversation, despite the secrecy of military train movements. In addition to volunteer efforts, many members of the First Presbyterian Church went on to serve in key leadership positions in state, local, and county government. Today, the oldest church congregation in the city of Denison continues to aid its neighbors through service and outreach. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 0.7 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Eisenhower State Park — 5.0 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.
• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 12 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.
• Choctaw Cultural Center — 16 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's history told from the Chahta side at Calera, with galleries from Nanih Waiya to the Trail of Tears and the reservation today, a living village and daily stickball.

More markers nearby

• Present Home of XXI Club — steps away
• Site of Saint Francis Xavier Academy — steps away
• Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad — 0.3 mi
• Forest Park — 0.3 mi