Texas Historic Landmark Presbyterian Church Building

Church before raising from the ground. S A N G E R H I S T O R

The Sanger community has been rewarded for many years with the beautiful Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The church was organized by the Reverend Goodson on August 30, 1896. Sanger was a fairly new community as a result of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway being extended through the community in 1887

In 1901, the 66 members of their church decided to build a house of worship and a local Baptist gentleman donated the land for the church. He was the grandfather of an early Sanger historian, Eunice Sullivan Gray. The building was completed in 1902 and was the first church in the community that was not a squared building and was the only auditorium for the next 10 years.

Local carpenters, possibly led by Mr. Kay and Mr. W.L. Meek, who was assisted by his son Dick, built this historic building. Mr. Meek was the father of Mrs Lou LeGear, who was the wife of Murphy LeGear Jasper Wells, a prominent citizen of Sanger, donated a bell that was cherished by the townspeople for its sweetness of tone and was installed in the tower. Later generations of the Wells family produced Alonzo Jamison, the grandson of Jasper, who served in the Texas Legislature and was also a professor of government at Texas Woman's University.

This historic church building was a frequent gathering place for the community. Its auditorium boasted the largest seating capacity of any building in town at the time. The school was and still is located across from this building, and many school activities were held within the church's walls. Additionally, a music teacher used this building to teach students, who only needed to cross the street from the school building for their lessons.

The church was the site of the first formal wedding in Sanger, which took place in 1903 between Miss Myra Martin (daughter of the minister Reverend J Monroe Martin) and Will Jones.

The Presbyterians shared a minister with the congregation of Valley View, 6 miles north. The Methodist congregation had a similar arrangement with their pastor and needed a minister on the days their pastor was not available, so they joined with the congregation of the Presbyterians and held worship together.

One unique feature of the church was the designated seating area for courting couples in the center of the auditorium, an idea proposed by Reverend Hardin Mallard, a young minister who graduated from Trinity University in Waxahachie.

The history of this church, with its original setting, changed on August 22, 1971, with the last service held. A new church building was built on land donated by the Bill Switzer family. This new church building is now the Sanger Community Center, located on Freese Drive. Chet Switzer, son of Bill Switzer, has memories of being a small child and was the bell-ringer for the church, but someone had to hold him up to the rope and pull him up and down to ring the bell The historic bell was saved by the City during refurbishment but was not put back in the steeple. Plans are to place the bell in the yard of the building for all to enjoy.

Note: The above was taken from writings held in the Sanger Area Historical Society Museum written from notes of Alma Lain Chambers, Una Burkholder Burks, and Eunice Sullivan Gray

The original church building was used as the Sanger Public Library until a new, modern building for the library was built at 5th and Bolivar Streets.

Numerous attempts were made to renovate the church, and one of them involved raising the building from the ground with a grant from the State. During this renovation, some walls were taken down, and a large photograph was discovered inside one of them. The photograph was given to the SAHS to research, but it was folded and damaged A student from UNT was employed to restore the photo and produce a digitized version. The original photo did not show the man in the middle, but the student recreated him using features from all the other men. The contractor who was carrying out the renovation work said that finding photographs in walls was common in old churches, and they usually depicted men who had played a role in building the church. Upon closer inspection, the SAHS group realized that one of the men in the photograph was Dr. Samuel Alexander Gotcher Dr. Gotcher was a deeply religious man who lived in Sanger and began practicing medicine in 1897 after receiving his degree in St. Louis in 1895. He was often seen wearing a long black overcoat with a Bible in the inside pocket. Dr. Gotcher became an ordained minister, moved to Chicago, and worked as a minister until his death in 1922. His home in Sanger still stands at the northwest corner of Fifth and Plum Streets, just south of the strip center containing Lone Oak Café

This beautiful and peaceful church building has been a State of Texas Historical Commission Historic Landmark site since 1972 and still stands proudly today. The property was donated to the City of Sanger in 1987. Around 2014, the Denton Courthouse-on-the-Square organization expressed interest in moving the building to their historic park However, this would result in the loss of the Historic Landmark designation from the State of Texas. The building was deteriorating and becoming an eyesore, so a focus group meeting was held for the citizens of Sanger to discuss the possibility of losing a part of Sanger's history. After considering the options, it was decided not to lose the history. The Sanger Area Historical Society (SAHS) led a fundraising drive to refurbish the church, raising approximately $270,000, while the City of Sanger provided the remaining funds. The church was unveiled to the public on November 17, 2016, and was a hit!

The SAHS group took photographs throughout the refurbishment. Most notably this building had floors, walls, and ceilings with the same wood from its original days. During refurbishment, the flooring had to be replaced with new flooring, and the walls were sheet-rocked. The ceiling was saved with the original wood, as well as portions of the walls at the west and east interior. The front room was named in memory of Eulalia Steedman Araoz, the wife of Dr. Carlos Araoz, whose contributions to the refurbishment were notable.

Current day finds the historic landmark building has been used for the Sanger Tour of Homes for Christmas, City Council meetings, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, receptions, school dances, and yes, even for a few funerals. The SAHS organization provides holiday decorating for the building for the Christmas season. The first wedding held in the refurbished church building was Eli Springer and Hayley Brey on December 10, 2016 which christened the newly refurbished historic building.

Sanger has had many churches over the years since its beginning in 1886 and still has many places of worship that had early beginnings and new beginnings.

The Sanger Area Historical Society is always pleased with Sanger citizens’ participation in efforts to save Sanger’s history. This church refurbishment was truly an amazing project that citizens got behind, and now everyone can enjoy the historic landmark in many different ways, perhaps just a drive-by to enjoy a part of Sanger’s history.