FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
401 N. Madison Street
Mt. Pleasant, Texas 75455
Titus County History Website Note: The following history was provided to us by the First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant. The Church compiled the history during their 100th Anniversary in 1981, and has not been updated.
This brief historical account of First Presbyterian Church, Mt. Pleasant, Texas is the product of intense research into the original records of the Session and the Women of the Church (now "Presbyterian Women"). All footnotes from the original research manuscript were omitted for brevity. Needless to say, in an account of this kind there will be minor discrepancies - either due to errors in the original records themselves (e.g., spelling, dates, sequence, etc.) or because some records were simply not available. There are instances where the writers had to rely on "oral tradition" to give interpretive meaning to the facts. With this in mind, it is hoped that this anniversary volume faithfully represents the heritage and life of First Church, Mt. Pleasant, to the Glory of God and the blessing of His People.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MOUNT PLEASANT, TEXAS, COMPILED IN OBSERVANCE OF ITS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
The First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant was organized by the Reverend William Waldo Brimm, an evangelist for Paris Presbytery, on August 14, 1881. Reverend Brimm, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, was born on August 15, 1837. During the War Between the States he served with the 7th Georgia Volunteers of the Confederate States Amy. Following the war, he attended and was graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary, Class of 1869, and ordained by Atlanta (GA.) Presbytery. Brimm served several churches in Georgia prior to his moving to Texas; but, in 1373 he was called to serve as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Tyler. During the years 1877-1882 he served Texas Presbyterian congregations in Fort Worth, Pittsburg, and Sulphur Springs. At the Spring meeting of Paris Presbytery in 1882, Mr. Brimm was formally elected to serve as an evangelist for the Presbytery "strengthening and encouraging the weak churches," a work he had already been doing.
Paris Presbytery had been established in 1879 upon a request by the Presbytery of Eastern Texas to the Synod of Texas that two presbyteries be formed out of the one. The new presbytery was bounded on the north by the Red River, on the east by the state line, on the west by the eastern boundaries of Grayson and Dallas Counties, and on the south by the southern boundaries of Anderson, Van Zandt, and Kaufman Counties to the Trinity River.
In August, 1881, while serving as the pastor of the Presbyterian churches in Sulphur Springs and Pittsburg, Texas, W. W. Brimm began to meet with a group of Mt. Pleasant residents who were interested in forming a church of the Presbyterian persuasion in their city. Twenty years earlier a Presbyterian church had been established in the community of Greenhill, just north of the present city of Mt. Pleasant. As more and more people began to settle within Mt. Pleasant, the need for a Presbyterian church closer to the town became apparent. Thus, in response to a petition of thirteen Presbyterian communicants, Mr. Brimm organized the First Presbyterian Church in the city of Mt. Pleasant. Thirteen charter members were constituted as a church. Seven of these members presented evidences of their membership from the Greenhill Presbyterian Church, viz., J. R. Cammack, Mrs. M. G. Cammack, Dr. I. T. Suqgs, Mrs. J. H. Suggs, Mrs. Lou Miller, Andrew Walker, and S. G. Shepperson. Five members were received from the Goodman Presbyterian Church, Goodman, Mississippi, viz., Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, Miss Florence Taylor, Miss Martha Taylor, Miss Gussie Taylor, and Miss Mary Williams. One member, John Gingles, was received from the Poplar Line Church in North Carolina.
At the organizational meeting, Dr. I. T. Suggs, Andrew Walker, and J. R. Cammack were elected and installed as Ruling Elders, having been previously ordained to the office. Mr. Cammack was elected to serve as church clerk. During its early years, the new congregation met in the homes of church members. Eventually, however, an arrangement was made to meet in the Methodist Church which stood at the corner of Jefferson and Third Streets. In 1883, at a public auction of the estate of Mr. J. W. Jackson, the congregation purchased a tract of land on the northwest corner of Madison and Fourth Streets for the sum of forty dollars. A white frame house of worship was soon erected. Early photographs show the church with a bell tower on the southeast corner; however, older members report that, when first built, the church was entered by a double-door located in the front center of the building. The bell tower was later added and the double doors sealed off because of heat loss during the winter months when the door was opened. In 1885, the Session authorized the purchase of two chandeliers, a stove, and church bell, which, in the last instance, would indicate that the bell tower was at least anticipated, if not already built.
Three years after its organization, the Mt. Pleasant Church called its first pastor, the Reverend Ebenezer Ireland. A native Scotsman, Mr. Ireland was received into the "Southern" Presbyterian Church in 1884, from a Congregational Church Association in Michigan. Very little is known of him, but the History of the Presbytery of Paris characterized him thus: "Gentleness and love for the work were strongly developed in him.
Beginning in 1886, the Mt. Pleasant Church was served by a succession of one year Stated Supply ministers. A Stated Supply is a minister who is invited by the Session of the church which is without a pastor, to preach, administer the Sacraments, and fulfill designated pastoral duties. Due to the shortage of established pastorates in certain developing areas of Texas, the use of the Stated Supply relationship was widespread. In l885, the Reverend Doctor James Hannibal Wiggins, a graduate of Hampton-Sydney College and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, and pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Texarkana, Texas, became the Stated Supply for the Church in Mt. Pleasant. In the latter part of 1887, the Reverend William Harrison McCullough, a graduate of Austin College in Sherman and Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina, became Stated Supply for the Presbyterian churches in Mt. Pleasant, Pittsburg, and Winnsboro. During this time there was a constant growth in membership, in spite of the congregation being without a full-time pastor.
The Reverend Milton Munroe Hooper was called as pastor of the Mt. Pleasant, Greenhill, and Pittsburg churches in May, 1889. A graduate of Southwestern Presbyterian University of Clarksville, Tennessee and Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina, Mr. Hooper came to Texas from Mississippi and was ordained by Paris Presbytery in 1884. After serving several northeast Texas churches, both as pastor and Presbytery evangelist, he moved to Pittsburg in 1889 to begin his pastorate of the three aforementioned churches. However, when the ladies of the Mt. Pleasant Church offered to build a parsonage in Mt. Pleasant, Mr. Hooper agreed to relocate there. In September, 1890, while still serving as pastor, Hooper suddenly died at age 34. The Mt. Pleasant Session memorialized him, saying in part, "No man said a word against his Christian character, and all saw that his religion made him what he was...(he) had only one theme... Christ and the Church. When he prayed, he talked with God as friend talketh with friend. He has gone from among us, but his life remains with us as a rich precious legacy."
Hooper's brief pastorate was followed by another series of Stated Supply relationships. In 1892, the Reverend T. S. Johnston became the Stated Supply for the Mt. Pleasant, Greenhill, and Pittsburg churches. He was followed by the Reverend J. M. Brooks in 1893, who was pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Sulphur Springs, Texas.
The Mt. Pleasant congregation was not without internal problems during its first twenty-two years. To have had seven preachers in such a short span of time may have seemed bad enough, but trying to tame a townspeople who were still part of frontier America proved even more vexing. The records of the Session for this period repeatedly mention instances when church members were summoned before the body to answer charges of public drunkeness and profanity. At times, the minister and elders were appointed to call upon such offenders, to reprove and admonish them to their errors. In one particular case a member was charged with "selling whiskey," which upon being confronted with his misdeed stated, "that if he had known that it was against the rules of the church to sell whiskey he would not have joined the church." In most cases, the offender was required to appear before the Session and make acknowledgement of his or her sin for the purpose of repentance. Those who continued in their evil ways, after having been warned, were excommunicated.
During 1896, the Mt. Pleasant congregation enjoyed the services of the Reverend William James Caldwell, the pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Tyler, Texas. Mr. Caldwell had received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree from Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarksville, Tennessee and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from the SPU Divinity School. Caldwell's Stated Supply relationship was ended the next year when the Session secured the services of the Reverend Madison Pearson Slaughter a native of the Greenhill community. Having received his training at Austin College at Sherman, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Mr. Slaughter returned to Texas to serve his home church, the Mt. Pleasant Church and the churches at Pittsburg and Winfield. Tragically, this young pastor of 27 years died suddenly on October 7, 1899 in Mt. Pleasant. Again the Session mourned the loss of their Shepherd, noting that "the church has lost an efficient worker for the honor and glory of God and the county a useful citizen."
In his monumental work, Presbyterians In The South, Professor Ernest Trice Thompson notes that "one critic complained that the Presbyterian minister could not endure hardship as did ministers of other denominations. In the seven years required for his preparation for the ministry he had neglected his body. He came to Texas pretty well equipped in mind, but with a body disqualified from enduring a long ride or any unusual strain."
At the Fall meeting of Paris Presbytery in 1900, the Reverend Oliver Benjamin Caldwell was received from the Presbytery of Western Texas to serve as Stated Supply for the Mt. Pleasant, Greenhill, and Pittsburg churches. A native of Tennessee, Mr. Caldwell had an intriguing background which touched the pre-Civil War division of Presbyterianism. In 1856 he was a student of Maryville College in Tennessee, an institution which had fallen into the hands of the New School General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.; which held a "modified" form of the traditional Calvinism espoused by the Westminster Standards. The next year (1857), Caldwell transferred to Hollins College in Virginia, possibly because a number of New School presbyteries in the South holding anti-abolutionist sentiments had withdrawn from the New School Assembly to form the United Synod of the South. Maryville College remained with the New School Assembly. At any rate, from 1858-61, Caldwell studied theology under the tutorage of a Professor J. O. Sullivan and the Reverend William E. Caldwell, one of the founders of the United Synod of the South. In 1862, O. B. Caldwell became a Chaplain in the Confederate States Army, at which he served for the duration of the conflict. He was sixty-two years old when he took up the Mt. Pleasant call, where he labored for one year.
O. B. Caldwell was succeeded by another former Confederate Army Chaplain, the Reverend John Morton Cochran. A native Virginian, Mr. Cochran was educated at Hampton-Sydney College and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, before relocating in Texas. As Stated Supply for First Presbyterian Church, Mt. Pleasant in 1901, he was honorably retired the following year at age 77.
This was a bleak time in the life of the Mt. Pleasant Church. Sessional records show that there was but one ruling elder, one deacon, and a total of sixteen communing members. With such small numbers, it is somewhat amazing that the congregation was able to muster thirty students for its Sunday School/Bible Class program. The salary offered a prospective pastor totaled $25.00 a year.
On March 11, 1903, the Mt. Pleasant congregation voted to extend a call to the Reverend John Grier Varner to serve as pastor. Mr. Varner served as the Stated Supply for the Decatur (Texas) Presbyterian Church before relocating in Mt. Pleasant. When called, Varner was to only serve part-time, sharing his services with the Pittsburg Church. In 1908 this arrangement ended and he became Mt. Pleasant's full time pastor at a salary of $900.00 per year and free use of the manse. Varner was native of Mill Bridge, North Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from Davidson College and his theological training at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. During John Varner's fourteen year pastorate, the Mt. Pleasant Church experienced one of the greatest growth periods in its history. In 1903 the Church had 1 ruling elder, 1 deacon, and twenty communicants with thirty-five enrolled in "Sabbath School" and Bible Class. By 1916, just before the close of Varner's pastorate, there were 4 ruling elders, 5 deacons, 85 communicants, and 100 students enrolled in Sunday School. The pastor's salary had climbed to $1,200.00 per year and the total budget was $3,200.00.
In its brief history, the Mt. Pleasant congregation's women played a vital and active role in the church's on-going work. A women's "Aid Society" was established in 1899 with seven members. In time, the initial women's organization grew steadily in numbers. In 1908 a group of church women met to organize the "Ladies Missionary Society" to promote the cause of world missions. Growing from nine charter members to twenty-seven members in four years, this group was merged with original Ladies Aid Society in 1917 to become the Fannie Wallace Auxiliary "in honor of a devoted and lovable Christian member who has passed on to her reward."
John Varner accepted the call of the Denton (Texas) Presbyterian Church in 1917, and was followed by the Reverend Robert Lowry Owen who was serving the Troup (Texas) Presbyterian Church when called. A graduate of Austin College at Sherman and Austin Theological Seminary in Austin, Owen soon became the Stated Clerk of Paris Presbytery. His Mt. Pleasant pastorate was marked by another period of church growth. Upon arriving in the town, R. L. Owen found the congregation meeting in a small frame building, built thirty-four years before. Prospects for further membership growth held that the congregation would soon be too large for the facility to accommodate. Before merging with the Ladies Aid Society, the Ladies Missionary Society had presented the church with a $200.00 gift with which to start a Building Fund.
On May 29, 1923, the Mt. Pleasant City Council issued a permit to the Mt. Pleasant Church trustees to construct a new church building on the lot where the old building stood. The structure was to be of brick veneer and not to cost less that $25,000.00. The architect of the 11,748 square foot building is not known, but the architectural style was mixture of Greek Revival and English Renaissance. The congregation employed Mr. J. H. Thomas of Mt. Pleasant as builder and work began immediately. By October 21, 1923, the congregation held a "Farewell Service" in the old church building which had been moved to another location. The new facility was occupied on October 28, 1923. One account of the day described the new building as modern in every respect: Sunday School Rooms, Gymnasium, Ladies' Parlor, Christian Endeavor Room, and Pastor's Study." The cost of the finished structure was $35,000.00. It would take eleven years to retire the note which financed the building.
Having completed this building project, R. L. Owen accepted the call to become pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Big Spring, Texas. The Mt. Pleasant congregation fondly remembered how "much of the success of (the congregation and its building project) was on account of his untiring work and vision."
In 1924, the congregation called the Reverend Doctor Amos Kenton Mattingly as pastor. A Kentucky native, Mattingly did his undergraduate work at Kentucky Wesleyan College and Centre College of Danville, Kentucky. He received his theological training at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the American University of Harriman, Tennessee.
For the first twenty-five years of his ministry, Dr. Mattingly served churches of the Presbyterian Church in the USA (Northern) in Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. He was received into the Presbyterian Church, US (Southern) the year he came to Mt. Pleasant. The Mt. Pleasant pastorate lasted four years, after which Dr. Mattingly remained in the city and operated a dry goods business until 1932.
On February 24, 1929, the Reverend George Coit Moore came to the pulpit of the Mt. Pleasant Church from Princeton Theological Seminary where he had just received a Masters degree in Theology. A native of Sherman, Texas, Mr. Moore received his undergraduate degree at Austin College and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He was licensed and ordained to the gospel ministry in 1908 by Dallas Presbytery, and had served many Texas churches before going to Princeton for advanced studies. Mr. Moore served the Mt. Pleasant congregation for 19 years. Records of his pastorate show that the total membership had reached 178. There were eight ruling elders, eleven deacons, and a Sunday School enrollment of 127 students. In the summer of 1930, the First Presbyterian Church held its first Bible School. It also had the distinction to be the first Bible School held in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. A young Peoples' Society consisting of 20 members was organized in 1932 and met on Sunday evenings. When Mr. Moore began his Mt. Pleasant pastorate, the congregation had 90 members and remained $4,000.00 in debt from its building project. On Sunday, April 16, 1933, congregation members witnessed the burning of the note against the church property erected in 1923. Many improvements were made to facilities, like the purchase of an electric organ and chimes, carpeting of the sanctuary, enlargement of the church kitchen, and provisions made for more Sunday School classes. Between 1929 and 1932, 49 members were received into the church. "A happy cooperative Spirit" prevailed throughout the church during these years.
The church celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of its founding on December 6, 1931, with a "Golden Jubilee." Former ministers and Mr. Moore lead the services. "By April 16, 1933, the congregation had retired its building debt and celebrated with a note burning ceremony. By the end of his pastorate, George Moore had baptized 80 adults, 56 infants, and received 304 persons into the church. He had officiated at 132 weddings and performed 148 funerals. Calls on the sick, newcomers, those in distress and sorrow were without number. To say the least, he had endeared himself to the town of Mt. Pleasant in a way that has had far-reaching results.
The Reverend Joseph McMurry Owen was called as pastor in June, 1949, upon graduating from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia with a Master of Theology degree. Mr. Owen's father, The Reverend Calvin Percy Owen, had served as pastor of the Greenhill and Pittsburg churches from 1921-23. Joe Owen was born in 1922 while the family lived in the Greenhill community. He subsequently lived in Mercedes, Sulphur Springs, and Brownwood, Texas. Mr. Owen attended Daniel Baker College in Brownwood and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his under-graduate degree. In 1946 he was graduated from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia with a Bachelor of Divinity degree and was called to serve as Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Huntington, West Virginia. Following his graduate studies at Union Seminary in 1948-49, Joe Owen entered upon his work in Mt. Pleasant.
In January, 1949, the congregation voted to sell the Manse on 6th Street and to purchase a house on Johnson Street which was owned by Paris Presbytery.
During this time needed repairs and improvements were made to the church's basement area. All gym equipment was removed, the walls were painted a sunny yellow, asphalt floor tile was laid, and folding doors, which served to divide classroom areas, were added, which made for a cheerful environment. The congregation also furnished a nursery area with an attendant to care for young children during the worship services, as well as during other church functions.
When radio station KIMP was founded in Mt. Pleasant, the church purchased an hour of radio time in order to broadcast the Morning Worship Service on the fourth Sunday of each month. This service was well received by the whole community.
The women's work also had a new beginning. On March 4, 1949, "The Fannie Wallace Auxiliary" closed out its history of service to begin anew in the Fall as the "Women of the Church."
In 1950, the "Men of the Church" (formed from the Men's Bible Class in 1947) became a partial sponsor of Troop 206 of the Boy Scouts of America, which was officially sponsored by the Mt. Pleasant Lion's Club, with the church furnishing a meeting place and leadership. Mr. Bob Conroy became the first Scoutmaster and Mr. Owen served as his assistant. The Troop had 30 active members. Since that time the "Men of the Church" have been sole sponsors of Troop 206.
A "PRESMAC Class" (Presbyterian Married Couples) was organized in January, 1950, under the leadership of Mr. Owen. With twenty initial members, the class immediately involved themselves in the congregation's life and activities - painting, fixing-up, helping with improvements in the church basement. Not the least of their contributions to the church's life was the seven children they added to the Sunday School Roll. Showing this kind of growth, with 234 members, the congregation recognized the need to expand its facilities. On September 9, 1957, Trustees were given approval in a congregational meeting to purchase the lot west of the church from the Masonic Lodge for $6,000.00.
In February, 1952, the congregation acted to institute the "limited term of service" system (commonly called rotation) for its Board of Deacons. For the first time in its seventy-one years, the church moved to change its officers' term of office from that of lifetime service to a specific period.
In July 1952, Reverend Joe Owen accepted the call to become the pastor of St. Luke's Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas. Reverend Robert Andrew Pitman succeeded him in Mt. Pleasant and assumed the pastorate in June, 1953. Mr. Pitman was a native of San Francisco, California. He completed his under-graduate work at the University of California at San Jose in 1950, and engaged in graduate studies at the Biblical Seminary in 1950-1951. The following year, Mr. Pitman entered Austin Theological Seminary and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his ministerial degree in 1953. On June 7, 1953, the Paris Presbytery ordained him as the pastor of the Mt. Pleasant Church.
When Mr. Pitman began his work in Mt. Pleasant there were 230 members on the church roll. During his three year pastorate, forty-two members were added to the church. In addition, a number of projects were initiated which served to greatly strengthen the congregations' witness. In August, 1955, the "Andrews Club" was organized with thirteen participants. The organization's goal was to reach unchurched people of the community through a visitation style of evangelism. The "Men of the Church" were formally organized and recognized as an organization of the PCUS "Presbyterian Men" in 1955 also. Meeting in the church basement on the first Monday evening of each month, the organization's goal was to develop and use men in the church's work. Its three were: (1) to inspire each man in the right direction through devotional programs, friendship, and personal contact; (2) to develop men within the organization to do things that are becoming to a church member through public prayer, scripture, reading, speaking, and witnessing; and, (3) to inform men of the aims, beliefs and programs of the Church.
Under Bob Pitman's leadership, the Session and Diaconate studied the congregation's building needs in 1955. They found a shortage of room for the growing Sunday School program, and determined that an educational building was needed if the church was to continue to grow. The wooden partitions which had separated the Sanctuary and the Ladies Parlor had already been removed to make room for increased church attendance. Additional space was essential to the continued health of the Sunday School. Plans for an educational facility were drafted and, on February 27, 1955, the congregation approved the construction of a 6,488 square foot, one story, buff brick structure. The new building was to have twenty rooms, including a 100-seat chapel, and church office, kitchen, nursery, and two restrooms. Construction began on May 29, 1955, at a cost of $43,500.00. The educational building was built with the "best design and planning" on a vacant lot west of the main building. On October 23, 1955, a dedication service was conducted in the main sanctuary with the Reverend Sherrod Rice of First Presbyterian Church, Tyler, Texas, as the guest speaker. An "open house" followed the service, marking completion of the congregation's largest building project since construction of the main church building in 1923. In October, 1956, the Reverend Robert A. Pitman accepted the call of the First Presbyterian Church, Corpus Christi, Texas, to become pastor there.
The Reverend Sam McDowell Junkin arrived in Mt. Pleasant on June 10, 1957, to begin the First Presbyterian Church's pastor. Born in Kerrville, Texas, Mr. Junkin attended Schreiner Institute in Kerrville and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Bachelor's degree in 1954. He was graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in May, 1957, and was ordained by Paris Presbytery on June 23.
During Sam Junkin's pastorate First Church, Mt. Pleasant witnessed a resurgence of strong youth program. Forty youth were involved in the Presbyterian Youth Functions, e.g., summer camps, Spring rallies, District rallies, and retreats to Synod's Mo-Ranch Encampment. The development of a Youth Choir resulted when the church employed Mr. Lee Gray as Choir Director in August, 1959. Mr. Gray gave countless hours of devoted service to church, school and community, making an indelible impression on the lives of the young people of Mt. Pleasant. He served as Choir Director from September, 1959, until September, 1968; and, as a Deacon from January, 1964, until his unfortunate death in September 1969.
On January 1, 1958, the Synod Texas of the Presbyterian Church in the United States dissolved the seventy-nine year old Presbytery of Paris of which the Mt. Pleasant church had been a member-congregation for seventy-seven years. In place of this regional structure, Northeast Texas Presbytery was established by redistricting churches in the presbyteries of Paris, Central Texas, and Dallas. This resulted in a much larger presbytery, both in number of churches and geographical bounds.
By the end of 1960, Mt. Pleasant church membership had reached 257, with a Church School enrollment of 210. In August, 1961, the congregation was summoned to concur with Mr. Junkin's request for Presbytery to dissolve the relationship between him and the church that he might accept the call of First Presbyterian Church, San Marcos, Texas, to become pastor there. The Mt. Pleasant Church sadly concurred. Reverend David Benjamin Davies assumed pastorate of the congregation in July, 1962. A native Arkansan, Mr. Davies received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his theological training at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. After serving the Mena Presbyterian Church in Mena, Arkansas, Mr. Davies accepted the pastorate of the Community Presbyterian Church in Duncan, Oklahoma, from which he was called to Mt. Pleasant.
Numerous significant changes in the church's life and environment marked David Davies' pastorate. Three months before his arrival, the congregation voted to place the Session on the "limited term of service" or rotation plan, adopted ten years earlier for the Diaconate, which became effective upon the new pastor's arrival. Within ten months of his installation, the parking lot on the west side of the educational building was concreted. In the Spring of 1964, the congregation voted to renovate the main sanctuary. A colonial design was chosen and a complete overhaul was made, including the replacement of the pews and chancel furniture, organ, and carpeting. The choir, formerly located in the chancel area, was moved to the rear balcony with the new organ. While this work was being done, capacity crowds attended two worship services per Sunday in the Chapel.
In 1967, the Mt. Pleasant church became a member of the Robinson Larger Parish, a cooperative venture involving the Presbyterian churches in Camp, Franklin, Hopkins, Titus, and Wood Counties. The parish's purpose was to promote cooperation among member churches with a view to strengthening each local church's program.
David Davies accepted the call to become pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Texarkana, Arkansas in June, 1969. During his seven year Mt. Pleasant pastorate the church had grown to 304 members, the largest since its founding.
In 1890, ladies of the Mt. Pleasant church offered to provide a house for their pastor, the Reverend M. M. Hooper. Since then, ministers serving First Church lived in several church-owned houses, all of which are not known. In October, 1969, the congregation approved purchasing a home at 1907 Friendly Street to serve as the Presbyterian manse. The first pastor to reside in the new Friendly Street manse was the Reverend Fleet Gordon Cook, who was called to the Mt. Pleasant church on October 26, 1969. Mr. Cook was graduated from Arkansas College at Batesville, and received his theological education at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas. He was ordained on June 28, 1954, by the Presbytery of Mid-Texas as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Cleburne. In 1956, he became pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Clarendon, Arkansas, in the Presbytery of East Arkansas, where he served until 1960 when he became a Presbytery Evangelist working in the Heber Springs, Arkansas area. Mr. Cook served as pastor and Stated Supply of First Presbyterian Church and Sugar Loaf Presbyterian Church in Heber Springs until he accepted the pastorage of the Cleburne Avenue Presbyterian Church in West Helena, Arkansas. He served the Mt. Pleasant Church until May, 1977.
A highlight of Mr. Cook's pastorate was the June 20, 1971 "Homecoming" held in conjunction with Titus County's 125th anniversary. Many of the church's former members returned for the observance where former pastor Joe Owen conducted the morning worship service. An old-fashioned "dinner on the ground" was served at Greenhill Presbyterian Church, parent congregation of First Church.
All elected officers of First Presbyterian Church had been men for the congregation's ninety-two year history. This changed on December 2, 1973, when Mrs. Margaret Spann and Mrs. Mildred Summers were elected to serve as Deacons. Another significant change which occurred in 1973 was a restructuring of presbytery and synod boundaries. Since before the founding of the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1861, the state of Texas had been organized as one synod, its boundaries being those of the state. In 1972 the Synod of Texas was joined with the Synod of Red River. In addition to synod restructuring, the Presbytery of Northeast Texas was merged with the Presbytery of Central Texas to form the Presbytery of the Covenant, in 1973. When restructuring was completed, Texas held five presbyteries in place of what had once been seven.
On May 22, 1977, Fleet Cook requested Covenant Presbytery to dissolve his pastoral relationship with the Mt. Pleasant congregation so he could accept the call to become pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Waskom, Texas. The congregation concurred with his request.
The Reverend James Adrian "Jack" Ryan, Jr. was called as pastor in January, 1978. A native Arkansan, Mr. Ryan attended Arkansas College at Batesville and was graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas, in May, 1976, and was ordained by the Presbytery of the Pines in June of that year. Mr. Ryan's first pastorate was yoked ministry to two rural Presbyterian churches in Belcher and Dixie, Louisiana.
On the approval of the congregation, extensive repairs and renovations to both buildings were begun in October, 1978. The exterior of the main building was cleaned, re-mortared and waterproofed, and painted in an effort to restore the structure's original appearance. The building's basement interior also received serious attention as kitchen facilities were upgraded and redecorated and the Fellowship Hall refurbished to make it more pleasing and attractive. The church office, parlor, kitchen, restrooms and Chapel in the Educational Building were completely renovated.
For its 98th anniversary, Circle # 3 of the Women of the Church, which provided the funds to refurbish the Chapel, requested that it be designated as "the Bessie Slaughter Caldwell Memorial Chapel," in memory of a dear and faithful saint of the congregation.
Each year the congregation has observed the anniversary of its founding by engaging in a "Covenant Renewal" ceremony in morning worship on the Sunday nearest August 14. Based on the tradition of covenant renewal as practiced by its Scottish Presbyterian fore-bearers, the congregation is called upon to give assent to the sacred vows by which it was established.
In 1979 the Presbytery of the Covenant of the Presbyterian Church in the United States was joined with Presbytery of Trinity of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to become Grace Union Presbytery. First Church, Mt. Pleasant thus became a member church in the fourth presbytery in East Texas since its founding. All the while, this one hundred year old congregation has continued to meet in its original location at the corner of Madison and Fourth Streets. It has truly been the "First" Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant.......an outstanding influence in the city and county and an unwavering witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This influence and witness is clearly noted on the cover of the bulletin used in Sunday worship: "To all who are weary and need rest; to all who are lonely and want friendship; to all who mourn and look for comfort; to all who are lost and need a way; to all who sin and need a Savior; to whosoever will come to Jesus Christ, receiving His love and forgiving grace, and desiring to live for Him a new life, this congregation opens wide its doors and bids you welcome."
(Membership as of 12-30-80 - 232)
RULING ELDERS THROUGH 1981
I. T. Suggs, Andrew Walker, J. R. Cammack, W. P. Hassell, J. N. Grigsby, C. 0. Lide, T. 0. Johnston, W. C. Mercer, S. P. Walker, W. R. Swan, 0. L. Colley, P. E. Wallace, Joe Embrey, J. H. Mason, D. D. Lide, Marshall Branch, G. L. Brocoitti, Marvin Coffey, D. C. Munden, W. W. Beall, John Surovik, T. M. Gilpin, John Mason, 0. L. Colley, Jr., V. G. Strong, Bob Conroy, Curtis Bell, George Gilpin, Sam Harvey, Ewell McClinton, Connie Short, Hardin Whitaker, Tom Meriwether, J. R. Thomas, Morris Rolston, Robert Baker, Dan Latimer, Pat Sisk, James Stepp, Conway McDaniel, H. Bryan Campbell, Paul William Dempsey, Paul Boggs
FORMER PASTORS THROUGH 1981
1. William Waldo Brimm, Organizing Evangelist 1881
2. Ebenezer Ireland, 1884 - 1835
3. James Hannibal Wiggins, 1886 - 1887
4. William Harrison McCullough, 1887 - 1889
5. Milton Munroe Hooper, 1889 - 1890
6. T. S. Johnston, 1892 - 1893
7. J. H. Brooks, 1893 - 1896
8. William James Caldwell, 1896
9. Madison Pearson Slaughter, 1897-1899
10. Oliver Benjamin Caldwell, 1900
11. John Morton Cochran, 1901
12. John Grier Varner, 1903 - 1917
13. Robert Lowry Owen, 1917 - 1924
14. Amos Kenton Mattingly, 1925 - 1928
15. George Coit Moore, 1929 - 1948
16. Joseph McMurry Owen, 1949 - 1952
17. Robert Andrew Pitman, 1953 - 1955
18. Sam McDowell Junkin, 1957 - 1961
19. David Benjamin Davies, 1962 - 1969
20. Fleet Gordon Cook, 1969 - 1977
21. James Adrian "Jack" Ryan, Jr., 1978 -
DEACONS THROUGH 1981
R. J. Davis, T. 0. Johnston, R. F. Ackridge, 0. M. Tabb, C. A. Roesler, J. H. McFarland, D. D. Lide, DeWitt Huckeba, Charles M. Green, T. B. Caldwell, Jr., Joe Embrey, D. C. Munden, Marshall Branch, G. L. Brogoitti, Marvin Coffey, C. G. Crawford, Earl Nance, R. A. Taylor, George Watts, W. W. Beall, O. L. Colley, Jr., R. J. Conroy, T. M. Gilpin, H. T. Leftwich, John Summers, George Gilpin, Dan Latimer, H. W. VanHovenberg, Ewell McClinton, Hardin Whitaker, V. G. Strong, James L. Adams, Cecil Campbell, Sam Harvey, John Mason, Morris Rolston, Curtis Bell, David Brogoitti, H. F. Cross, E. P. Hendricks, A. C. Hoffman, Raymond Allen, Connie Short, R. B. Palmer, Bryant Rolf, W. C. Southerland, Ashley Johnson, Dan Manfull, Hal Mazzare, E. H. Millhouse, Tom Caldwell, Lee Gray, Jim Mchaffey, Sargent Caldwell, John R. Cason, B. L. Curry, Ed Enochs, John Etheredge, T. W. Renfroe, Robert S. Smitherman, James Stepp, 0. R. Thomas, Otto Buchanan, T. B. Field, Robert Adams, Robert Baker, Glen Jackson, Benton Burford, Charles Brooks, Alvin Spann, John Pat Temples, Jack Murray, Tom Sherman, Pat Sisk, Margaret Spann, Mildred Summers, Conway McDaniel, Paul Boggs, R. E. Sievert, Bill Robinson, Walter Frazier, John Hughes, Hazel Hendricks, Marion Bell, Cecil Burrows, Lonnie Gilpin, Margaret Burrows, H. Bryan Campbell, Jim Mason, Ann McDaniel, William Dempsey, Doris Renfroe, Tom Meriwether, Louise Brock, Charlene Stepp, Harry Sivess, Marqaret Hart, Bill Martin, David Woodson, Don Boggs, Larry Pascoe, Jim Lawson, Travis Hatter
The First Presbyterian Church provided this history article to The Titus County, Texas History Website on April 5, 2007. The history was written in 1981 for the Church's 100th Anniversary, and has not been updated.
