After the settlement of Collinsville, preachers would ride through to establish churches.  Prior to this time, people would meet in homes to practice the religion they had before moving to the frontier.

SEPTEMBER 1886 Brother E. H. Rodgers came to Collinsville.  He found that members of the church were living here: Bro. and Sister Jonathan Adamson and daughter; Bro. G. E. Hudspeth and family; Bro. Skaggs; Bro. Burrow.  They were meeting at the Welch school house.

Rogers moved to Collinsville for two years.  He preached one time per month in the Methodist Church.  Mr. Webster, Methodist preacher, preached in the Church of Christ building in Tioga.  Old Bro. Bowen, a leading deacon in the Collinsville Baptist Church gave Bro. Rodges a key and told him to use their building when they were not using it.

SPRING 1890

Mrs. Joe Hudspeth Sanders told her family at Sunday dinner, "We must have a church house and we are going to build one. Dad, how much will you give?".  George Hudspeth said, "the lot to build on and fifty dollars".

1891 Deacons, W. B. Jones, H. Nichols and J. P. Burrow deeded same property to the elders of the church - R T F M Davis, G. E. Hudspeth, K. E. Skaggs, T. U. Matthews with the stipulations:  "The house and premises are to be used as a house and a place of worship and that any and all kinds of instrumental music is never to be used with worship upon said premises or house and no society or societies of any kind, also that any kind of entertainment for the raising of money such as festivals or fairs, etc. are not to be had in said house or said premises and that the title shall always be vested in any and all members of the congregation worshiping in said house of worship".

The Shores' (P. T. Shores) stock tank was used for baptisms.

A larger frame building was erected on the same lot.  It was much larger and had curved pews.  This building burned in August 1930. It was recorded that there were 200 members.  A church member was cleaning the church grounds.  While burning the trash, the wind caused the fire to get out of hand and the building burned.  Until a new building was constructed in the 1930's, the church met in the school house.


10 DECEMBER 1930 A strip of land 15' by 270' was deeded to the church by M. E. (Everett) Smith, Mrs. M. E. (Ruth) Smith, Melvin and Vera Petty. Then the land was deeded to L. N. Smith, Bettie Barlow, J. S. Barlow, R. L. Moulden, T. J. Sanders, Nancy Sanders, Martha C. Ross, Bennett R. Ross, Arthur Jones, C. E. Jones, S. M. Jones, J. E. Jones, Luther C. Walls, Martha J. Washington, Charley G. Weightman, Hennrietta Clark, J. E. Jones and C. L. Jones to L. M. Smith.  The deed was recorded in Volume 312 page 503 deed records by Grayson County, Texas.

A meeting house was constructed with lumber bought at cost.  A small wind blew the small building to pieces when it only lacked painting and seating.  Bro. George Hudspeth made a very liberal contribution which allowed the small building to be rebuilt.

Now having their own meeting house, the church grew.  But it was difficult to retain members during the time that Oklahoma was being settled.

One year, the church lost 25 members, including Old Bro. Skaggs who was killed in an accident.

Mrs. Jeff (Celina) Davis made the communion bread until the early 1950's.  She carried the bread to church by buggy until they bought an automobile.  The children of the church were allowed to eat the remaining communion bread and grape juice after services.  The Collinsville church didn't have a problem changing from the "one cup" concept as others did.  Even though the congregation believed in "one cup" to partake of communion, the had two cups - one for each side of the building.  Mrs. Davis passed the communion bread around in a waffle iron and small pieces were torn off.

An addition was added to the south side of the building and an addition was added to the north side of the building to house a baptistery.

A well was dug on the north side as well.  Water was drawn by bucket and poured into a trough.  The trough went through a window to fill the baptistery.

Without regular preaching, the congregation would meet on Sunday and have classes followed by worship.  They would sing a few songs and some man within the congregation would read one or two chapters from the Bible.  If there was no one to be song leader, Aline Murdock would lead singing from her pew. A regular preacher was not employed by the church until the mid 1940's.  George Stephenson preached regularly until he moved his family to Wichita Falls in September 1940.  He had also preached at Whitesboro.  His first sermon was at Collinsville.  Then he would drive to Whitesboro to preach the same sermon.  If there was a baptism, etc, the people at Whitesboro would continue their song service until he arrived.
1946-47 The last Christmas tree and Program was held.  This involved decorating a tree.  The church provided stockings for each child.  And families would place gifts for their own children on the tree.  Charles Miller handed out the gifts and played Santa Claus.
1950s Added to the building:

• Two large evaporative coolers 
• Carpet runners down the aisles
• Carpet was put on the platform
• Drapes, to match, were placed over the doors behind the pulpit and drawn open for baptisms
• Two classroom with bathrooms
• A kitchen with cabinets and hot water

The church started helping children at Boles Home.
EARLY 1960's
Two air conditioner units and gas furnaces were added to the building.

1970's
Louvers were installed over the large windows. A drop ceiling was installed

SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

The older members marked their pew with a cushion that they left each Sunday.  The far north side of the building towards the front was the widow's corner.  It was an area where old single ladies sat.

FELLOWSHIP WITH FOOD

Adding food to a church activity made the event even better.  In the early days, it was called "dinner on the ground".  There were also Vacation Bible School picnics and ice cream suppers.

PARSONAGE The Weatherfords occupied the first home provided by the church at 319 Hughes.  This house was used until the 1970's.  A new house was purchased on Murdock Lane.  The third house was purchased on Reeves St. across from the present-day elementary school in 1984.
FUNERALS In the days prior to air conditioning, all doors and windows were opened. A netting was placed over the open casket to keep the flies away.  On the final march, the netting was removed. 

Historical facts taken from Robert Nim Voelkle's book A History of the Collinsville Church of Christ.