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Presbyterians, City Celebrate 145 Years
A Prayer for Abilene

By Bill Minter

We don’t know much about the weather that Sunday morning, February 27, 1881. The Weather Service wasn’t here yet, but historical accounts statewide show that temperatures were trending warmer late in the month, warm enough for a few early arrivals to gather in a canvas tent pitched near the new tracks. Some came from Buffalo Gap via buggy or buckboard, like William Adolphus Minter, his wife Clara and the family’s six children. Others arrived on a Texas & Pacific train from Dallas and Fort Worth. The following day, a temporary station opened for business in a boxcar at the site of the present Pine Street underpass. 

William Adolphus Minter Sr. began to move his family westward from their Chester, South Carolina, farm after the Civil War and the death of his first wife, Cornelia. After stops in Booneville, Mississippi, Matagorda County, and the Waco area, they established residence in Buffalo Gap around 1878. But the prospect of the railroad a few miles north became a very big attraction.

W.A. and Clara Minter

That weekend passengers arriving from the east included a Presbyterian evangelist, Rev. William Waldo Brimm, who had organized several Presbyterian churches in North Texas including First Presbyterian Fort Worth.

Although  the minutes of the first meeting of First Central Presbyterian Church say “in accordance with the previous announcement,” we don’t know just how the word was spread–maybe handbills with blocky Western letters? Or just word of mouth. But we know that those who gathered that morning believed that it was important to have available in the new town a group who would care for people in the new community, who would nurture their spirits and who would work with others to build a city where people would want to live.

Left to right William and Vera Hall Minter, Minter Famliy on front porch, W.A. Minter Sr. at his desk

The Minutes of Session of that day report that Rev. Brimm held divine services at 11:00 a.m,. reading the 3rd Chapter of the Gospel of Luke and preaching from Jeremiah 6:16:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls….”
–Jeremiah 6:16 NIV

Minter’s Dry Goods 1940

W. A. Minter was elected ruling elder, along with Lt. Carter. W.A. and Clara were active in the life of the church through the rest of their lives, The 8-year-old W.A. Jr. grew up to be a talented merchant and established Minter Dry Goods in August 1900, the same month he married Mabel Montgomery, the daughter of Abilene’s postmaster. A couple of years later he was joined in business by cousin George L. Minter Sr.

Left to right W.A. Minter Jr. in volunteer fire department uniform, Clara Minter, Minutes of Session Feb. 27, 1881

George’s son George L. Jr. and his wife, Mary, were active in the church, and George served as an elder and mayor of Abilene. He oversaw conversion of the original sanctuary on Orange Street to today’s Fellowship Hall. My father Will D. Sr. and his wife, Vera Hall Minter, were active in the church and dad served as elder and Clerk of Session and attended one of the denomination’s General Assemblies. I have been honored to serve in several positions, including deacon and elder. All churches are much, much more than one or just a few families. As we stand at the crossroads and look forward to the future of FCPC we gratefully acknowledge that we draw strength from our diversity, we always celebrate our welcoming nature and we faithfully keep our focus on Jesus Christ.

Bill Minter is the great-grandson of W.A. Minter Sr.