Presbyterians worshipped in Texas from as early as 1826 when Stephen Townsend and much of his extended family left Florida and came to Texas.
On July 18, 1944, the La Grange Intelligencer printed an article “that the Cumberland Presbyterian Camp Meeting commences today near Rabb’s Prairie. Sinners, you are particularly invited that you and the Christian may reason together; not that the Christian will be benefited but that you may be saved from everlasting hell fire."
In early 1844 Dr. Daniel Baker arrived in Texas and preached in towns such as Columbus, Port Lavaca, and El Campo before setting his sights on the town of La Grange, Texas.
On October 30, 1848, he organized the church with the following members Barclay Townsend, Leah Townsend, Jane H. Townsend, Catherine Bell and Hannah Rankin (a slave of Dr. Townsend).
At that time there were only six other Presbyterian churches in Texas. They were located in San Augustine, Houston, Austin, Galveston, San Antonio and Marshall. On September 29, 1849, the church, which included several new members celebrated holding the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in the county courthouse.
On July 20, 1853, in an edition of the Texas Monument the local Baptist church and the Presbyterian congregation advertised for the construction of a building for the church to be called the Union Church.
A contract was secured and the lumber for the church was obtained from Rabb’s sawmill.
This building stood at 135 E Travis Street on land donated by G. W. Sink’s family for just shy of 100 years. As reported in the Fayette County Record dated September 27, 1930, the reporter stated “it seems to have been splendid lumber that Mr Rabb furnished for the church house, for the building shows few signs of decay after three-quarters of a century of use.
In the early years of the church, a number of slaves joined the congregation when the families to whom they belonged joined. When it came to worship though, the slaves sat on special benches in the loft of the church. One of these benches is on display in the Fayette Library and Archives on South Jefferson Street.
Many of these slaves moved their membership at the end of the Civil War to local AME churches once they were allowed to establish their own churches. It is interesting to note that the church records listed these members as servants of their owners.
The Presbyterians met in the church on the first and third Sun days of each month and the Baptists on the second and fourth Sundays.
From August to November of 1867 the church lost many members to the Yellow Fever epidemic although during the epidemic the church continued to meet but in the open at Rabb’s Prairie hoping to provide a measure of safety to the young and growing congregation. (Does it remind you of a more recent epidemic?)
The two churches shared this facility until March of 1885 when the Presbyterians bought the Baptist share of the building.
By 1909 the church stood vacant and was deteriorating but by 1910 after much work by the Ladies Church Improvement Society, the building had been restored and held the funeral of Private H. J. Ehlers, the only La Grange native who was killed in the last days of World War I on October 10, 1910.
The church continued to grow and worship in this building until 1953. A newer picture you shows the west side of the build- ing with five large windows with the shutters tilted open for air circulation.
Three small windows appear across the upper facade. Two cedar trees and other shrubbery are visible in the churchyard.
After almost 100 years in this location, the last worship service in the Union church was held in December 1953 when the Presbyterians moved to their new church located at 205 Franklin where they continued to worship.
The Union Church building was sold to the African Methodist Church of La Grange and was moved in early 1954 to a location on East Guadalupe Street across from the Randolph High School.
