First Disciples of Christ in Texas

Worshiped in 1831 at McKinney's Landing, where the McKinney family and a small group of neighbors met together for informal services. During the winter of 1841-1842, a traveling preacher from Illinois, G. Gates, organized the congregation into a church. He later wrote, "I remained with the brethren about a week... gathered scattered sheep and constituted a church of 16 members, with fair prospects for more." First leader of the group was Collin McKinney (1766-1861), who had come with his family from Kentucky to Texas in 1831, when Mexico governed the state. The worship services he started were in defiance of the laws of Mexico, which demanded the allegiance of each citizen to the Catholic religion. In 1836, he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Collin County and the city of McKinney bear his name. Between 1844 and 1846, the McKinney families and neighbors moved their congregation to Mantua, near Van Alstyne, where they met in a wooden church with a four-foot wall separating men from women. Five slaves of the family were members of the Mantua group. When the railroad built past Van Alstyne, they moved there and organized the First Christian Church, a direct descendant of the 1831 congregation. (1967)

First Disciples of Christ in Texas is a historical marker in Texarkana, Bowie County, dedicated in 1967. It is one of 39 historical markers documented in Bowie County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 164 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 33.4931, -94.0434 near Texarkana. The nearest cataloged historic site is French in Texas (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Caddo Indian Village, Trammels Trace, and Red Springs.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5037009479. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.