The Denison Daily Herald
Wednesday, July 27, 1938

GROUPS JOINED TO ESTABLISH FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
The First Baptist Church was established March 28, 1875, when two groups merged.  The movement started on March 13 when Robert W. Livingston of Trenton, Missouri, preached at the Presbyterian Church.  Two groups were present, the First Baptist and the Enon Baptist, who founded the church of today.  Five men were selected to formulate merger plans, M.E. Hartman, W.C. Tignor, M.G. Gentry, Dr. T.N. Cutler, and Rev. Enoch Holman.  They met at the Templar Hall and afterward called Mr. Livingston as pastor.  For a while the group met at the hall but soon established quarters on Main street.
Rev. Livingston soon resigned and E.M. Holman was elected to preach.  In September 1876, Holman resigned and J.T. Jenkins was named pastor.  W.W. Kone was chosen pastor in January 1878, and resigned in December of the same year.  W.H. Parks was elected in January 1879 and later resigned to accept the pastorate of a Dallas church.
In April 1880 Rev. Kone was again elected pastor and in July 1880, Dr. A.J. Holt became pastor.  He served until September 1881.  In 1882 Rev. A.H. Norris of Greenville was called and during his pastorate the Main street building was destroyed by a storm.  On July 5, 1883 Rev. Norris resigned and Rev. G.W. Pickett was named pastor.  Plans for a new church were adopted on August 9, 1883 and a building was erected on the present site.

Other Pastors
In July 1884, Rev. Pickett resigned and in September 1885 Rev. W.E. Tynes was called.  He resigned in September 1891 and Rev. A.J. Kincaid began his work in 1892 and resigned in July 1893. 


Rev. R.C. Pender

At a special meeting Sunday morning, November 5, 1893, Rev. R.C. Pender, of Wolfe City, Hunt Co., Texas, was selected as pastor, elected by about 100 members in attendance.  Although Rev. Pender at firstdeclined the position, he signified his desire to accept the position the end of January 1894.  The Baptist congregation convened to reconsider their call to pastor; in May of that year 186 votes were cast for Rev. Pender and 1 vote for Mr. Anderson.  Rev. Pender served 3-1/2 years, submitting his resignation in July 1897. (The Sunday Gazetteer, November 1893 - May 1894)   Rev. Pender moved to Abilene, Texas, in 1908.
A.J. Kincaid returned in March 1898 and served until July 1909 and then served Calvary Baptist for 6 more years.
In 1907 the present building was erected under the pastorate of Rev. Kincaid and was at that time the outstanding church of North Texas.   Rev. Dr. E.P. West served from January 1910 to May 1911.  Rev. O.B. Falls was pastor from October 1914 to July 1918.  W.R. Lambert served until August 15, 1918.
Rev. Fred Cochran was called in August 1919 and resigned in November 1920.  Under Cochran's pastorate the church debt of $5,000 was paid in full.  Rev. H.R. Long was named pastor in June  1912 and served until 1929.  The church was without a pastor for 8 months and on April 30, 1930, the present pastor, Dr. J.F. Murrell was called.  Thirty persons were waiting for the rites of baptistm when Dr. Murrell arrived.  The membership of the church is now 1,437.
The fourth building for the Denison church is the Laura A. McCarthy memorial structure which was erected in 1925.  The building committee was L.M. Newsom, F.L. Norton, Frank Werline, J.N. Miller, O.V. Wingren, and C.C. Odle.  The finance committee was Frank Jennings, E.L. Hopkins, R.M. Finley and R.M. Noe.
The building was named for Mrs. Laura B. McCarthy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T.N. Cutler.  Mrs. Emma Lovellette Seay, the only daughter, made the church a gift of $15,000, which liquidated the building indebtedness.


Denison Daily Herald
Monday, September 23, 1878

GOD'S TEMPLES
Our Little Churches Around the Corner
Amid the Whirl of Business are These Cherished.

Denison Baptist Church
In March 1875 the Denison Baptist congregation was organized.  Rev. Robert Livingston took charge in April of the same year.  After about 7 months he was succeeded by Rev. E.W. Holman, who continued in charge for about one year and was succeeded by Rev. J.T. Jenkens.  Mr. Jenkens administered to the spritual wants of his little flock for about 7 months and was succeeded by the present pastor Rev. W.W. Kone in October 1877.
The church building was commenced in 1874, prior to the organiztion of the present congregation.  He is not yet entirely finished but is a commodious and comfortable little building sufficient for the presnt needs of the Baptist people of Denison.