{{Infobox church | name = First Presbyterian Church | image = Dallas, Texas Harwood Street.jpg | image_size = 250 | caption = Harwood Historic District structures including the First Presbyterian Church (far left) | pushpin_map = Texas#USA | relief = yes | coordinates = {{coord|32|46|46|N|96|47|37|W|display=inline,title}} | location = 1835 Young St.,<br />[[Dallas, Texas]] | country = United States | denomination = [[Presbyterian Church (USA)]] | website = {{URL|https://fpcdallas.org/}} | years_built = 1912<ref name="city landmark"/> | architect = [[C. D. Hill & Company]] | style = [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical Revival]] | embedded = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = First Presbyterian Church and Activities Building | nrhp_type = cp | partof = Dallas Downtown Historic District | partof_refnum = 08001299<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref> | location = 401 S. Harwood St. | designated_nrhp_type = January 9, 2009 | nocat = yes | designated_other1 = Dallas Landmark | designated_other1_date = October 21, 1981<ref name="DalOrd">{{cite web|title=Ordinance No. 17172|url=http://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/DCH%20documents/pdf/17172.pdf|author=Lee E. Holt|date=October 21, 1981|publisher=City of Dallas|access-date=August 4, 2018}}</ref> | designated_other1_number = [http://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/Pages/Dallas-Landmark-Structures.aspx H/16] | designated_other1_num_position = bottom | designated_other2_name = [[List of Dallas Landmarks|Dallas Landmark]] Historic District<br />[[Contributing Property]] | designated_other2_abbr = DLMKHD | designated_other2_color = #F5DEB3 | designated_other2_date = February 28, 1990<ref name="Harwood">{{cite web|title=Ordinance No. 30812|url=http://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/HP%20Documents/Districts%20Page/Harwood%20Ord%2030812%20Amendment%2003-27-18.pdf|author=Larry E. Casto|date=March 31, 2018|publisher=City of Dallas|access-date=August 4, 2018}}</ref> | designated_other2_number = [http://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/Pages/landmark_districts.aspx H/48] ([[Harwood Historic District|Harwood HD]]) | designated_other2_num_position = bottom }} }}
'''First Presbyterian Church of Dallas''' is a historic congregation at 1835 Young Street in the [[Farmers Market District, Dallas, Texas|Farmers Market District]] of [[downtown Dallas|downtown]] [[Dallas]], [[Texas]] ([[United States|US]]). The current building is a [[contributing property]] in the [[Harwood Historic District|Harwood Street Historic District]] and a [[Dallas Landmark]]. The congregation was founded in 1856 as the first U.S. (Southern) [[Presbyterian Church in the United States|Presbyterian Church]] organized in Dallas, and is the mother church from which many other Presbyterian churches in the area have stemmed.
==History== First Presbyterian Church of Dallas was founded February 3, 1856, by the Rev. Robert Hamilton Byers, stated supply minister for Presbyterian churches in [[Rusk County, Texas|Rusk]] and [[Henderson County, Texas|Henderson]] counties. The church began with eleven members. It lacked a formal place of worship so members met at various times in private homes, a blacksmith shop, a lumber yard, the courthouse, and a printing shop.<ref name="firstpresdallas.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.firstpresdallas.org/index.cfm/PageID/798/index.html |title=Welcome to First Presbyterian Church of Dallas: Our History |website=www.firstpresdallas.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726055138/http://www.firstpresdallas.org/index.cfm/PageID/798/index.html |archive-date=2011-07-26}} </ref>
In 1873 the congregation erected its first owned building at Elm and Ervay streets. Its second home was built in 1882 at Harwood and Main streets, the first brick church in Dallas. By 1897 this structure had been enlarged and so extensively remodeled that it was considered to be a new (third) building. The style was [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] eclectic.
The present sanctuary and Harwood Street Educational Building at Harwood and Wood, the congregation's fourth home, were built in 1911–12 by the Alex Watson Construction Company and opened on March 2, 1913. The [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] church edifice was designed by [[C. D. Hill & Company]], a prominent Dallas architecture firm.<ref name="city landmark">{{cite web |url=http://www.dallascityhall.com/historic/html/first_presbyterian_church.html |title=City of Dallas, Texas – Designated Landmark Structures |publisher=Dallascityhall.com |access-date=2013-03-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510055407/http://www.dallascityhall.com/historic/html/first_presbyterian_church.html |archive-date=2012-05-10}}</ref> The [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] columns that flank the entrance doors on Harwood and Wood Streets are [[Monolithic column|monolithic]]—the first in Dallas. Each column was shipped to Dallas on a separate [[flatcar]] from Indiana.<ref name="firstpresdallas.org" />
The exterior walls contain the original pictorial windows of "art glass". These were prepared by the [[Kansas City Stained Glass Works Company]] and shipped to Dallas in 1912. The interior design is a modified [[Akron Plan]]. The Akron plan was developed by [[Akron, Ohio]] architects (1900–1920) to promote efficiency of movement by congregants between worship and Sunday School. This plan is characterized by a semicircular amphitheater with curved seating, opening to classrooms immediately adjacent to the Sanctuary.<ref name="firstpresdallas.org" />
The current minister is Rev. Amos J. Disasa.
==Community involvement== Since its early days First Presbyterian has been providing social services in Dallas.
* First Presbyterian Church began a home to house the city's orphaned and abandoned children at Annex and Bryan Streets. Today a state historical marker stands at the entrance to the Presbyterian Children's Home and Service Agency in Itasca, Texas, tracing the institution's roots to this Dallas church. *[[Children's Medical Center]], adjacent to the [[University of Texas Southwestern Medical School]] in Dallas, had its beginning as a clinic for small children in the basement of First Presbyterian Church in 1921. It was the first free clinic in the Southwest.<ref name="firstpresdallas.org"/> * The congregation began its Stewpot ministry to the homeless and disadvantaged in 1975. [[The Stewpot]] and its many related ministries have received national recognition and serve as models for other churches/cities. In May 2008, First Presbyterian entered into an agreement with the city of Dallas and the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance to move the Stewpot's meal service to The Bridge, Dallas' new homeless assistance center, where they now serve 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}
==See also== {{Portal|National Register of Historic Places|Texas}} *[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Dallas County, Texas]] *[[List of Dallas Landmarks]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090309114804/http://www.dallasarchitecture.info/1stpresby.htm Architecture in Downtown Dallas – First Presbyterian Church]
{{Downtown Dallas}} {{NRHP in Texas}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Presbyterian Church Of Dallas}} [[Category:Presbyterian churches in Texas]] [[Category:Churches in Dallas]] [[Category:Dallas Landmarks]] [[Category:Akron Plan church buildings]] [[Category:Presbyterian Church in the United States churches]] [[Category:Historic district contributing properties in Texas]] [[Category:1856 establishments in Texas]] [[Category:Religious organizations established in 1856]] [[Category:1913 establishments in Texas]] [[Category:Churches completed in 1913]] [[Category:Greek Revival church buildings in the United States]] [[Category:Greek Revival architecture in Texas]]