Settlers moved into the area in the 1840s as part of the Peters Colony, and in the early 1870s plans for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad brought new residents to the settlement of Summit, which was renamed for railroad official F.M. Howe and established as Howe around 1872. That same year, several residents organized what became the First Christian Church of Howe, with founders and charter members including George Miller, J.A. Hughes, Henry Stevens, J.A. Matthews, W.T. Copeland, Si Collins, C.E. Wheat, L.M. Davis, J.C. McBee, Jim McCoy, and John Grigg, and the congregation first held Sunday School classes and worship services in homes, schools, and other buildings. As the church grew, it bought this site in 1893 from John W. and Minnie B. Simpson, and under trustees Charlie Hanna, J.W. Bearden, and John and Frank Grigg, it built a church here. The building was one of four Protestant sanctuaries constructed in Howe during that period, with a similar vernacular design showing Victorian influences, including fishscale shingling, steep-pitched gable roofs, and neo-gothic details. The congregation added an annex in 1925 and later bought a parsonage on adjoining property, and over the years its members held revivals in the churchyard and ministered and witnessed in the Howe community. In 1982, declining membership led to the congregation's disbanding, and the sanctuary and site were donated to the city for community use while preserving a link to the community's past.