Our Facilities
OUR BUILDING
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Our present church building began its life in 1979, when plans were completed and bids accepted. It was first occupied in 1980, consisting of a 200-person sanctuary (later expanded), classrooms, fellowship hall, kitchen, and nursery. Additional classrooms were added in 1985 and 1996. In 2016, we completed an exterior renovation that included the addition of new signage, a new front parking lot and entrance and a new signature cross.
OUR ORGAN
Our pipe organ was originally built in 1878 by the Henry Pilcher Company of St. Louis. That company built more than 1800 organs for churches, concert halls and universities from 1852 to 1944. Our organ was their 775th. It was initially a 12 rank instrument, powered by several men who had to manually pump air into the windchest! Today the air is provided by an electric motor. The organ was originally located in the First Presbyterian Church of McKinney, and was purchased from them in 1978. Over the years, several improvements and upgrades have been made and the organ is now an amazing 15 rank instrument. Much of the original instrument is left in the present organ. During the summer of 2016, Dan Vaughan, our organist, further upgraded the organ with a new totally integrated relay system that is computer based. Plus, the console was replaced with a 2 manual lighted drawknob console, giving the organ added sounds, now available through the additional stops. With all of these improvements, it still sings with the same rich sounds that worshipers first heard more than a century ago.
OUR STAINED GLASS BACKDROP
Our stained glass pulpit backdrop, originally one of a pair, was built for First Presbyterian Church of Terrell, Texas, in 1905 by an unknown artist. In 1958, the Terrell church built a new building that only included one of the two windows. The windows had been badly damaged by vandals, so this window, titled “The Sower,” was placed in storage for possible future use. When our present facility was built, the Terrell church presented the window to us as a congregational gift. It was restored by members of the Rockwall congregation who had skills working with stained glass. After two years of dedicated labor, the new window was installed in our sanctuary in 1980.
