In an area of Texas long inhabited for its many streams and fertile soil, with early European institutions including three 18th-century Spanish missions and a presidio, the San Gabriel Christian Church grew from worship gatherings in private homes that began circa the 1840s among a group known as "Campbellites." In 1835, the Mexican government granted Abigail McLennan Fokes a league of land that included three future sites of the church. Martha Kolb was the first documented baptism in 1854, and in the following years many more settlers converted and joined through baptism. The church formally organized in 1859. In 1884, it built its first sanctuary on land donated by J.W. Hamblen, a hilltop building between Pecan Creek and the San Gabriel River known as the Old White Church. Although the building and many records survived a fire, frequent flooding led the congregation to move in 1901 to a new sanctuary across the river on land donated by Henry F. and Lucy Baird. Weather again struck around 1921, when winds severely damaged that building and floodwaters in September carried away salvaged lumber intended for reuse. In 1924, members built a third house of worship at this site, where the congregation remains. Over the years, leaders in the Disciples of Christ denomination, including some active in Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, served the church, whose members have also supported the community through mission work and other services, with many descendants of the original families continuing a worship tradition more than 150 years old.