Central Presbyterian Church (Austin, Texas)
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Located on the northeast corner of Brazos and Eighth Street, Central Presbyterian Church in Austin,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. Central Presbyterian Church is a member of
Mission Presbytery Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
, in the
Synod of the Sun The Synod of the Sun is a higher governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It has 11 Presbyteries, 843 congregations and 158,000 (91,061 in 2021) members. The Synod is headquartered ...
region of the Presbyterian Church (USA). It maintains a program of ministry, outreach, and cultural events. It has presented free concerts weekly since 1980, and since 2006 the church has been a venue for the SXSW Music Festival.


History

The congregation traces its roots to October 13, 1839, when Austin's first
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
worship service was held at Bullock's hotel. The City of Austin was chartered two and a half months later, December 27, 1839. Present at that service was builder Abner Cook, elder in the first Presbyterian church organized in Austin. He helped acquire the property at the northeast corner of Brazos and Bois d'Arc (now Eighth Street) for the Presbyterian Church (South) following a post-Civil War split in the church. A sanctuary was completed on the site in 1874; the current sanctuary was built in 1957. It was recognized by the
Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic L ...
in 1989 as an historical site. The congregation was known in later years as Southern Presbyterian Church, the Free Presbyterian Church, First Southern Presbyterian Church, and (currently) Central Presbyterian Church. It has counted among its members many individuals important in the life of the denomination and the city of Austin, including Gov. Francis R. Lubbock; William Sidney Porter ( O. Henry); A. N. and Jane Y. McCallum; Dr. George Clark and Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red; and U. S. Attorney General
Thomas Watt Gregory Thomas Watt Gregory (November 6, 1861February 26, 1933) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a progressive and attorney who served as US Attorney General from 1914 to 1919 under US President Woodrow Wilson. Early life Gregory was born ...
. The Rev. Richmond Kelley Smoot, pastor from 1876 to 1905, played an important role in the national denomination and in the development of the
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1902 to provide pastors for the rapidly growing Presbyterian Church in the frontier Southwest. Thonton Rogers Sampson was the first president. ...
. The congregation has been instrumental in organizing five Presbyterian churches in Austin. First identified as Presbyterian Church (South), the congregation has been known subsequently as Austin Presbyterian Church, Southern Presbyterian Church, Free Presbyterian Church (i.e. its pews were not for sale to families) and First Southern Presbyterian Church. In 1983, with national reunification of the Northern and Southern branches of the denomination into the Presbyterian Church (USA), the church changed its name to Central Presbyterian Church.


Notes


References

''The Roots of Central Presbyterian Church, Austin Texas'' by Bo Byers 1989, published by Nortex Press


External links


Central Presbyterian Church

Mission Presbytery

Synod of the Sun

O. Henry Museum
{{Coord, 30.269685, -97.740280, display=title, type:landmark_region:US Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Churches in Austin, Texas Presbyterian churches in Texas Presbyterian Church in the United States churches National Register of Historic Places in Austin, Texas