First Presbyterian Church of McKinney

The plaque calls this the first Collin County congregation in the Presbyterian Church in the United States, a denomination born during the Civil War, and the Handbook of Texas gives the history behind that. In 1861 Texas Presbyterians, Old School and New School, joined other Southern churches to organize the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. In 1865 most Texas congregations affiliated with the Presbyterian Church U.S., the Southern church. Some wanted to renew fellowship with the Northern church, and in 1867 they left their presbyteries to form the Austin Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

What the plaque says

First Presbyterian Church of McKinney This fellowship was the first congregation in Collin county affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in the United States, a denomination established during the Civil War. Chartered with eighteen members, it was organized by the Rev. W.K. Marshall on September 27, 1874, at the home of Dr. E.N. McAuley, a prominent McKinney physician. James P. Nenney and W.A. Gossett served as the first deacons. The initial church building for the congregation was completed by 1876. A small frame structure with a steep roof and tall, narrow windows, it was located on the corner of Tennessee and Hunt Streets. An ornate tower housed the church bell, cast especially for the fellowship, which was donated by Z.P. Ranney and is still in use. Due to increased membership, services were held in the county courthouse prior to the completion of a larger church building on North Kentucky Street in 1899. Constructed of brick, the sanctuary served the congregation until 1966 when a new edifice was completed at this location during the pastorate of the Rev. Sam P. Riccobene. The chapel includes stained glass windows and interior furnishings from the 1899 sanctuary. (1980)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 3.7 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 22 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 35 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.

More markers nearby

• Site of Muse Academy — 0.5 mi
• First Christian Church of McKinney — 0.7 mi
• Waddill-Morris Homesite — 1.1 mi
• Collin County — 1.4 mi