Historical Marker

Site of First Church in Upton County

Historical marker location:

8th and Half St., Rankin, Texas

( 8th and Half Sts. Rankin)

After pioneers of Upland (12 miles N.) resettled here in 1912 on Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway, they held religious services in the railroad depot, then acquired a non-denominational church site on this corner. Ira G. Yates, later an oil baron, headed building fund donors' list. George E. Blanton, a Baptist; Dr. J. H. Johnson, Church of Christ; and H. H. Russell, Methodist, were trustees. The "Rankin Union Church" building, finished in 1915, housed local school two years. It was county's only church until the late 1920s. This site was sold to the Methodists in 1939.