First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio

In 1844 a Presbyterian, the Rev. John McCullough, and a Methodist, the Rev. John Wesley DeVilbiss, visited San Antonio and conducted the first Protestant worship service. The Board of Foreign Missions in 1846 sent the Rev. McCullough to San Antonio to organize this church. After two years the membership erected an adobe building on Commerce Street. It served as the first Protestant church house in the city. The fellowship declined in 1849, and in 1851 the Rev. Dr. Daniel Baker, founder of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Texas, and six members reorganized the congregation. The contract for a new church house was let in 1859, for construction on the northeast corner of Flores and Houston streets. With the beginning of the Civil War, the fellowship broke with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and building construction was halted. A storm in 1868 destroyed the adobe church building. The second house of worship was finally completed in 1879 under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. J. W. Neil. The Rev. Dr. Arthur Gray Jones led in the erection in 1910 of this Gothic Revival structure, designed by Atlee B. Ayres. In the 1920s, during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. P.B. Hill, radio broadcasts of services began and the attached education building was completed. (1979)

First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio is a historical marker in San Antonio, Bexar County, dedicated in 1979. It is one of 239 historical markers documented in Bexar County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 542 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.4292, -98.4847 near San Antonio. The nearest cataloged historic site is Scottish Rite Cathedral (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Wolfson House, San Antonio Scottish Rite Library and Museum, and Thiele Cottage.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5029001813. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.