Historical Marker
First Presbyterian Church of Port Lavaca
Port Lavaca, Calhoun County · Texas
Erected 1998
The church shared its first quarters with Lavaca's school, and the town took schooling seriously early. In 1850 Lavaca had two schools for girls, with seventy pupils between them, and a school for boys with thirty-six, at a time when the town counted 231 free residents and 84 enslaved people. A district school followed by 1854. Thirty years later the town was down to about seventy people, a general store and a dry-goods and grocery store, but it still had two churches and its district school.
What the plaque says
First Presbyterian Church of Port Lavaca Legend has it that the area's first Presbyterian church service was held in a local saloon in 1848. Eleven charter members soon began meeting with the Rev. A. Stephen F. Cocke in a warehouse also shared by the Methodist congregation and the school. A church building was erected on land purchased in 1849; the structure was destroyed in the 1886 storm. The group disbanded in 1903 and was reorganized with the Rev. M. W. Doggett in 1909. In 1956, dedication ceremonies were held for a modern facility in a new location. With a membership of 132 in 1997, the First Presbyterian Church of Port Lavaca continues to be active in worship and in community and missionary outreach. (1998)
Where it stands
28.62325, -96.63403 · Directions