Our History

Grapevine Area History, Grapevine Historical Society (1979)

ISBN: 978-1-304-28452-5

With a nucleus of four families the Church of Christ was established at Keller, Texas, and first met on a Sunday afternoon in 1884 in a school house that stood on the banks of Bear Creek. A community church building was erected in Keller some months later and the church met there for a few years, services being conducted twice monthly on Sunday afternoon with one of the Elders doing the preaching. In 1890 a new white frame building was erected on the corner of Hill and Elm Streets, at a cost of $347.50 and by 1895 the membership had grown to about 35. The Keller Church of Christ continued to grow and in 1949 the brick building seating 250 was erected on the same lot.

As the congregation continued to grow it became obvious that a larger building would be needed. Eight acres of land facing Elm Street, just two blocks south of the present location, was purchased and a building fund began. In August of 1977 a new building was purchased, and a building fund began. In August of 1977 a new building was begun at 205 Elm. The congregation occupied the new building May 28, 1978 and the dedication was held June 25, 1978. The present building and lands, worth some $500,000.00 will presently accommodate 500 people with ample parking on a paved lot, class rooms, offices, nurseries, fellowship hall – class room combination, with store rooms and supply rooms. The present auditorium will seat 500 people and with the removal of interior class rooms can be expanded to seat 950 people in the future. The unused acreage will allow for expansion of the parking lot and additional educational building. Ministers who have served the church are Joe Photen, F.L. Paisley, Larry Fluett, Ike Traylor, Ed Spurlock. The present minister is Ah. H. Kennamer. Ross Knox and Lan White serve as Elders. By A.H KENNAMER

Wild Rose: A Folk History of a Cross Timbers Settlement

ISBN: 0-89865-965-5

With a nucleus of four families, the Keller Church of Christ was established in 1884. A school that stood on the banks of Bear Creek south of the settlement served as their place of worship. The dirt road was a bog and deep rutted in the winter and spring making travel to services on Bear Creek difficult.

A community church building was erected in the settlement some months later and the church met there for a few years on a twice monthly basis with one of the elders, Tom Forgy, Henry King, Tom Russell, or D.D. Griffin, doing the preaching.

In 1890 a new white frame church building was erected on the corner of Hill and Elm Streets complete with hitching posts and rails for the horses and buggies, a huge potbellied coal stove for heat in the winter and hand fans for cooling in the summer. Baptizing was done in Bear Creek. The cost of the church was about $347.00.



By 1895 the membership numbered about thirty-five. No full-time preacher was available, but once a month a preacher would ride the train up from Fort Worth. Gospel meetings were usually held under a tent on the church grounds in the month of August.

A Partial History of

the Keller Church of Christ

By: June Music & Nona Ballard (2021)

On one Sunday afternoon in 1886 four families met to worship the Lord and thereby established the Church of Christ in Keller, Texas. The meeting place was a schoolhouse located at Pecan and Elm Streets. A few months later. a community church building was built and the church met there for the next few years. The meetings at this location took place twice a month with an elder or member of the church doing the preaching. If elders were appointed, there is no record.

In 1890, a new white frame building was erected at the corner of Hill and Elm Streets at a cost of $347.50 and, by 1895 the membership had grown to about 35. Sometime before 1915 Brother H.D. Griffin, one of the elders during this time, built a rostrum from which ministers could preach. In 1915 Brother H.D. Griffin moved from Keller and the elders and deacons who had served with him at that time wrote him a letter of recommendation Those elders were: J.M Knox (Jasper M.). John McAnear and J.H. Wallace (John H.). The deacons serving the church in 1915 were: Dr. W.P. Perry, M.D., N.M. Knox (Norton Monroe) and R.H. Knox (Robert Hatton).

A copy of a 1915 Letter of Recommendation for H. D. Griffin, as seen above,  provides a view to the church. They would have arrived on Sundays via foot, horseback, wagon, early automobile and train to the wooden frame building and pot-bellied stove.

Elders & Wives

• John H. McAnear & Matilda J. Baker
• Jasper M. Knox & Nora G. McAnear (Knox Bros. Blacksmith)
• John H. Wallace & Nancy A. Cooke (1888 Keller Postmaster & Pharmacist)

Deacons

• Dr. W.P. Perry, MD
• Norton Monroe Knox (Knox Bros. Blacksmith in Keller, Mechanic, Chrysler Dealership in 1931)
• Robert Hatton Knox (Grocery, small business owner)

"And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed." (Acts 18:27)