First Presbyterian Church of Taylor

The plaque tells the congregation's history; the architecture record describes the building. SAH Archipedia, from the University of Virginia Press, calls the brick sanctuary at 114 West Sixth Street a single-story Classical Revival church, cubic in shape on a raised basement, with a monumental flight of steps rising to an arcaded entrance loggia. It dates the building to about 1910 and captions a photograph 1913, while the plaque gives 1912-1913. The brick church replaced the frame sanctuary of 1878 after the merger with the Cumberland Presbyterians. The page names no architect.

What the plaque says

First Presbyterian Church of Taylor The history of this church can be traced to 1876, when a Presbyterian congregation here was closely associated with the Presbyterian church in Georgetown. The Rev. John McMurray led both congregations, and the earliest written recognition of the Taylor church appears in 1878 denominational records. Trustees for the church purchased this property in March 1878, and a frame sanctuary was completed by Thanksgiving of that year. A school operated by the Rev. Mr. McMurray was located across the street. The Rev. James P. Lyle was called as the church's first full-time pastor in 1889. About a year later a home was built on the church property to house the pastor's family, but it was destroyed in a 1900 fire. Denominational records began to refer to this congregation as First Presbyterian Church of Taylor in 1895, following the establishment of a Cumberland Presbyterian church the previous year. The two congregations were merged about 1910 and retained the First Presbyterian Church name. The need for a larger facility soon arose, and a new brick sanctuary was built in 1912-1913. (1989)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 16 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Inner Space Cavern — 17 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 17 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 27 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• City of Taylor — steps away
• Tex Avery — steps away
• Bill Pickett — steps away
• Birthplace of Governor Dan Moody — steps away