Colorado City, Mitchell County
On the second Sunday of January, 1881, The Rev. O.F. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister and school teacher from Mississippi, preached the first sermon ever heard in Colorado (City). The congregation met in a saloon, only large place in the tent town. The bar was covered with wagon sheets and after the sermon, a collection was taken for the minister. A dug-out, floored with corn sacks and equipped with boxes for seats, housed the first formal church, organized in May with 11 charter members. W.J. Miller was installed as elder and the church was placed under control of the Texas Central Presbytery. In a few weeks, a tent was erected to accommodate church services, Sunday school and public school. P.O. Coleman, prominent doctor and educator, and J.E. Riordan, banker, were then named elders. Later, church members worshipped in the newly built school house. The first permanent church building, located at Locust and Second Streets, was dedicated May 3, 1891. The first trustees were Dr. P.C. Coleman, W.J. Miller, William Kennedy, C.A. Arbuthnot and John Carlisle. The present church building was completed August 30, 1925, when The Rev. W.M. Elliott was Pastor. An education unit was added, 1957, under The Rev. Earl Clary, Pastor. (1969)