San Angelo's First Christian Church established in 1882

According to the “Early History of The First Christian Church of San Angelo,” written by Mrs. Robert Austin in 1942, the congregation of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of San Angelo, 29 N. Oakes St, was organized following a revival meeting on May 15, 1882.

Mrs. Austin’s history states that the Rev. Dimmitt came to San Angelo and gathered a small band of Christians, holding “the first revival of that faith in an adobe building in the central part of town.”

“During the singing of “Oh, Happy Day” Mrs. H.R. Rowland made the good confession, and was the first woman of the faith to be baptized in the Concho River.”

Austin writes that founding member Frank Lerch organized the first Camp Meeting in West Texas in early summer of that year, which was held on the banks of the South Concho River.

By the following year, San Angelo had two churches — one Methodist and one Catholic — and Austin explained that before the first churches were established here, pioneer Protestants in town had met in the home of Mrs. Fayette Tankersley, who “would take down the beds in order to have room to seat those attending.”

They also met in a room on the second floor of the San Angelo Livery Stable on East Concho Avenue.

For the congregation of First Christian, the adobe building served them until founding members Frank Lerch and R.W. Landrum – both pioneer real-estate developers – purchased a 50-foot by 100-foot lot at the northwest corner of Harris Avenue and Oakes Street for $250 from Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Harris on Jan. 21, 1885, deeding the land to the church.

According to the report, a frame structure was built for around $3,000 with materials hauled up from San Antonio by wagon, and the building was situated facing Harris Avenue.

The Rev. A.J. Bush dedicated the church, and the first pastor was a Rev. Charles.

They didn’t enjoy the use of this building long however, as the church was destroyed on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 24, 1887, when the first tornado struck San Angelo, taking the cupola off the top of new Tom Green County Courthouse as well.

It was a mere 5-years after the Ben Ficklin flood.

According to a Standard-Times article about the storm from 1955, the County Commissioners had voted to purchase a $1,500 clock for the courthouse's cupola only 10-days before the storm.

Mrs. Austin states that the twister picked-up the roof of First Christian Church, and then hurled it back down, collapsing the walls.

She recounts that on the morning after, Miss Amelia Metcalfe, who lost her mother, sister and uncle in the flood of 1882, crawled beneath the wreckage to find the church’s organ unharmed, whereupon she began playing church hymns.

Many of the congregation’s earliest records were lost in the disaster, Austin reported, noting the congregation were quick to rebuild with the salvaged organ, and seating, and that building served for the next two decades.

According to church history, the group voted on Sunday, June 13, 1909, to build a new brick church, which was designed by Ira L. Shepherd, and constructed for $35,000, with a cornerstone set in 1911. A dedication service took place in 1912, when the Rev. John Mullen was pastor.

With major population booms in the 1920s and 1940s, the congregation of First Christian began thinking about a larger space as early as 1951.

According to a report from November of 1952, the church board voted to move forward with a building program, and in 1954 an audience of about 100 gathered on Thursday, March 4, to witness the ground-breaking ceremony for a new church located up the block at the corner of College Avenue.

Inspection tours of churches in El Paso and Houston were planned.

The new church was built at an estimated cost of $500,000 and designed by architect Leonard Mauldin to seat 720, with a educational building, finished basement and chapel on site. 

The congregation moved in on May 23, 1955, and a dedication service was held on June 19, as Dr. M.E. Sadler of Texas Christian University spoke with several dignitaries in attendance.

The former church building occupied its corner for a little while longer. Sold to the congregation of First Baptist Church across the street, it served as an annex for a time before being leveled for parking.

In 1982, the Disciples of Christ marked the centennial of First Christian Church of San Angelo with four major events to commemorate history to that point, and dedicate a new organ.

Services were held in February to mark the years 1882 to 1912; in May to mark 1913 to 1955; in June to remember the years from 1955 to the present, and in October to dedicate the organ donated by Mrs. Robert G. (Nona) Carr.