Organized July 1854 by The Rev. Richard O. Watkins, as Cumberland Presbyterian Church. First church building was erected in 1854-55. First pastor, The Rev. Dempsey W. Broughton, helped found Trinity University. Present sanctuary was built in 1877. Church took name "First Presbyterian" after national denominational merger in 1906. It became "Covenant" after absorbing Gastonia (1912) and Jiba (1963) congregations. Incise on back: Marker in memory of our parents, Martha Jane and Jim Duncan, by Bertha Duncan Lane and Herman H. Duncan Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971