Organization of First Protestant Worship in Austin

The city of Austin, Republic of Texas, was founded in 1839. Among its first settlers were Richard Bullock and James Burke, former elders of Presbyterian churches in the United States. That Autumn, at a time when no protestant church had yet been established in Austin, the Rev. William Youel Allen (1805-85) came from Houston to visit in Bullock's hotel, at this site. On Oct. 13, 1839, in the hotel, he preached and organized a Presbyterian congregation. There were six members, with Bullock and Burke as the ruling elders.