First Presbyterian Church of Marlin

411 Oaks St.

Lott, Falls Co., Texas

Year Erected: 1974

     The Presbyterian faith was preached in the Falls County Courthouse in Marlin in 1852, from a pulpit that was drawn up into the rafters when not in use. Presbyterians organized a church in 1853 in Carolina community (10 mi SE) and held missionary services here. On May 2, 1874, the Rev. Levi Tenney and the Rev. Hilary Mosely, commissioned by Central Presbytery, Synod of Texas, organized this church. Mrs. S. K. Bartlett, A. M. Chatham, William McPherson, W. L. Patillo, K. Sewall, and Dr. and Mrs. E. S. Weisiger were charter members. Agnes Patillo Clark, W. S. Clark, and Mrs. H. Singer soon joined. Ruling elders were Patillo and Dr. Weisiger. After years of worship in borrowed quarters, this congregation erected its first building in 1893, at corner of Fortune and Perry streets. Motte Martin, a youth who joined this church in 1894, became in 1902 one of the earliest missionaries to the Congo. Present edifice completed in March, 1918, was site of the city's service of Thanksgiving on Nov. 22, 1918, at end of World War I. Synod of Texas met here 1922. The educational building was erected in 1954; present manse, 1966. Since 1972, Marlin has been in Presbytery of the Covenant, in the Synod of Red River.