Gum Spring Presbyterian Church

Gum Spring Presbyterian Church was named for a nearby spring with a gum log curb and was organized on Oct. 7, 1850, by the Rev. J. M. Becton. Its 1850 roll included Mr. and Mrs. Meshack Barber, S. S. Barnett, Mrs. T. C. Barnett, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Scott, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Sloan, Nancy Sloan, and Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Templeton. A log church built in 1849 burned on Dec. 31, 1857, and the present structure, built in 1858, housed Danville Masonic Lodge No. 101 and, from 1858 to 1873, Danville Masonic Female Academy, the parent institution of Lon Morris College. After moving in 1874, the congregation became the First Presbyterian Church of Kilgore. Before it burned on April 2, 1978, the Gum Spring Presbyterian Church building at New Danville stood on this site for 120 years, welcoming congregations of various faiths when they lacked facilities of their own and opening its doors to community reunions and other worthy uses.

Texas · United States