The Church of Christ in Rockwall

Matthews was more than a wagon-train preacher. A physician born in Kentucky in 1806, he sat in the Texas Congress, chaired a land board, and returned to Congress in 1842. He moved to the Rockwall area about 1843 or 1844 and opened a church in his own house. A nephew later wrote that he held enslaved people and that the war that freed them ended his fortune. He opposed secession until war came, and in 1864 a vigilance committee at Gainesville accused him of treason; he was spared. He died in Wise County in 1891.

What the plaque says

The Church of Christ in Rockwall Before establishing an independent republic in 1836, Texas settlers were expected to support the Mexican state religion. As Mexico's rule waned, residents and new arrivals to Texas organized non-Catholic churches. Among them was "the church on horseback and wheels." a group of approximately 300 members traveling from Tennessee to Texas. Led by noted preacher and physician Mansil (Mansell) W. Matthews, the members were part of what became known as the American Restoration Movement, which launched the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Church of Christ. Matthews' traveling church crossed into Texas at the Jonesborough crossing of the Red River on January 17, 1836 and became what is believed to be the first Church of Christ congregation in Texas. Matthews and his family moved to Rockwall in 1853. They only stayed a few years but during that time helped establish a local Church of Christ. Beginning with the strong leadership of Matthews in 1853, Rockwall's Church of Christ congregation grew during the next century. Members built their first meeting place in 1880. In 1895, a disagreement began over the use of instrumental music in worship, and the congregation split. The progressive faction became part of the Disciples of Christ and the conservative group formed a new Church of Christ congregation. Their first meetinghouse was completed in 1910. A later rift led to the formation of Lakeside Church of Christ, but the two groups later reunited in name, number and purpose. Known today as Eastridge Church of Christ, the congregation maintains the traditions of Texas' early religious pioneers through service, worship and study. (2005)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 1.7 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.
• No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum — 17 mi
  A free museum at Terrell's airport where about 2,200 RAF cadets learned to fly between 1941 and 1945, with logbooks, uniforms, letters and original training aircraft.
• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 20 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.
• Fair Park — 22 mi
  The State Fair of Texas grounds since 1886, where the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition left one of the country's greatest concentrations of Art Deco exposition buildings.

More markers nearby

• Central National Road of the Republic of Texas — 2.0 mi
• Fate Presbyterian Church — 2.3 mi
• Rockwall County — 2.4 mi
• Millwood and Millwood Cemetery — 4.6 mi