Site of Cumberland Presbyterian Church

The church's newspaper had a restless history. Andrew Jackson McGown, a San Jacinto veteran, first printed the Texas Presbyterian at Victoria in November 1846 for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It moved to Houston by May 1847 and made its last move to Huntsville in 1849, with the synod offices. By 1855 bills were rising and Methodist and Baptist papers were competing, and the synod declined to take the paper over. McGown sold the printing plant and went back to full-time preaching. No Presbyterian paper followed until 1873, when the Texas Cumberland Presbyterian appeared at Tehuacana.

What the plaque says

Site of Cumberland Presbyterian Church Site of Cumberland Presbyterian Church On this site once stood the first church building erected In Huntsville. In 1849, Cumberland Presbyterian Church trustees A. C. King and T. J. Caldwell purchased this land on behalf of the congregation, and the building was constructed soon thereafter. The sanctuary also served as a house of worship for other denominations in town when it was not in use by the Cumberland Presbyterians. Symbolic of the Cumberland Presbyterian movement in Texas, the Huntsville Church was founded on the pioneering efforts of itinerant preachers in Texas such as Sumner Bacon and Andrew Jackson McGown. McGown published the denomination's newspaper, the Texas Presbyterian, in Huntsville from 1849 until it ceased publication in 1856. Church members first met in homes, in the courthouse or in other public buildings, with the Rev. Weyman Adair and the Rev. Milton Estill providing early leadership to the congregation. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Huntsville succumbed to the ravages of the Civil War and the 1867 yellow fever epidemic and eventually disbanded. The First Christian Church acquired the property in 1871 and moved the building across the street about 1901, after which time it fell into disrepair and eventually collapsed. Although no longer extant, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church remains a significant part of the early religious and cultural history of Huntsville. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 31 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• Forrest Lodge No. 19, A.F. & A.M. — steps away
• Huntsville Springs — steps away
• The Five Courthouses of Walker County — steps away
• Walker County — steps away