This is the first in a new format for my blog posts where I can explore different interests
in an open-style format, with unique treatments, and without the pressure to update in any reasonable amount of time.
Waco’s population numbered
749 in 1859,
3,008 in 1870,
and had increased to
12,000 by 1884.
Baptisms were performed
in the Brazos River in
the earliest days.
1. Chapel at the Baptist University
2. Chapel of the Methodist Female College
3. Courthouse
4. Court House Street schoolhouse
5. Sam Houston Hall (above the Jones’ livery stable)
6. Richey’s Hall
7. Built structure on South Fifth Street (1875)
8. Austin Street in Moore’s Hall (about 1885)
9. Built building on Washington Street
10. Edgefield Chapel (Intersection River & Cottonwood; 1886-1902)
11. Intersection of South 15th and Railroad
12. Met in homes
13. Built meetinghouse (intersection of Webster and 15th, 1903)
14. House at 324 North 10th Street (purchased and renovated)
15. Columbus Ave. and 16th Street
B. F. Hall, D. Pennington, H.D. Bantau, C. Kendrick, A. Clark, T.Caskey, Dabney, J. H. Banton, John Ellis, S. B. Grogan, Keys, C. M. Wilmeth, Paul Bagly, Kirk Baxter, J. H. Crutcher, T. F. Driskell, W. E. Hall, G. L. Surber, W. H. Goodloe, and Joe Harding
-- 1948: Herring Avenue church established
-- Herring Avenue became Lakeshore Drive Church of Christ in 1969 after moving.
-- 1954: Herring plants Crestview Church of Christ
-- 1950: 19th and Clay established
-- 19th and Clay becomes South Waco Church of Christ
Hall agreed to come and hold
a protracted meeting and a
congregation was formed.
“Waco, Texas, October 29, 1870. On this day the following persons came together and mutually agreed to form themselves into a congregation to be known and designated as the Church of Christ, in the City of Waco, Texas. They gave themselves to one another
Thomas Moore, Jno. T. Walton, Jasper Miller, Dr. J. P. Houston, W. E. Bennett, Joseph Lehmann, and J. M. Bailey, Phebe W. Moore, Eliza Jane Moore, Sallie Skidmore, C. E. Walton, C. A. Sharpe, Bettie Lehmann, Emroy Miller, Mariah Caldwell, Mary Lester, A. M. Sneed, and C. H. Mann.
Twenty-nine others were listed as having “united during the meeting.” Thomas Moore was recognized as an elder, and the deacons were Jno. T. Walton, Joseph Lehmann and Jasper Miller.
It was reported that the congregation already had
plans for growth, which included establishing
“branch chapels in different portions of the city.”
A $45,000 gothic-style building with a seating capacity of 700 was constructed on the
new lot, and the first services in the new facilities were held on November 28, 1926.
A. O. Colley, a new minister serving the congregation, gave a sermon titled
“Why This Church Was Built” during the morning service.
M. A. Henderson was the first to be baptized in the new facility.
He went on to later serve in the congregation first as a deacon and then as an elder.
A. O. Colley, W. D. Bills, Fred McClung, John T. Smith, Basil D. Shilling, Fred Custis, Trine Starnes, Clifton Rogers, Richard F. Daughtry, Gary R. Beauchamp, B. W. Goree, David Berryman, Doug LeCroy, Joe Keyes, Charles North, and Tom Bedichek.
Those who served as associate ministers have included Basil Doran, Archie Waldrum, Mac Bartee, Gerald Kendrick, Royce Money, Lynn McMillon, and Johnny Stephens.
They have boldly proclaimed the gospel to their neighbors, sent workers into the mission field, helped the sick and the poor, supported countless orphans, encouraged and trained the youth, reached out to the deaf, and done so many of the small things that count far more than we often give the credit due to them.
Download Paper on the History
of the Columbus Ave Church of Christ
