The history of the Congregational Church of Austin, Texas, begins in the early part of the 20th century. Reverend J. Ritchie Briggs, minister of the Tenth Street Methodist Church, along with fifty-six prominent members of the Tenth Street Methodist Church, signed Articles of Incorporation on March 21,1901. They filed papers with the State of Texas on April 2, 1901, to become an independent church named The Methodist Church of Austin. Reverend Dr. Briggs had been pastor of the Tenth Street Methodist Church from 1896 to 1898. After agreeing to become the pastor of the new church, Dr. Briggs preached the first sermon on Easter at the Odd Fellows Hall located at the northeast corner of East Ninth Street and Congress Avenue.
Reverend Dr. Briggs held several academic degrees and had served as a Methodist minister in a number of states. Not only was he a brilliant scholar, but he was known as a gifted and forceful pulpit orator. Under his leadership, church membership grew rapidly during the following four years. Funding the new church was difficult, and the members decided to affiliate with the Congregational Conference of Texas and changed the name of their church in 1904 to First Congregational Church. Mr. A. O. Watson, a prominent architect and member of the church, designed the building, which was completed in 1906 at Ninth and Colorado Streets. The stained glass windows in the present building are a heritage from that original building. Over the next ten years, the influence of church and Sunday School increased and the membership attained a membership of two hundred and fifty members. There were a total of nine Sunday School classes with a membership of ninety.
In 1914, Reverend Dr. Briggs became seriously ill and assistant pastors had to take over many of his duties. Assistant ministers included Reverends John Harbeson, Dr. P. C. Burhans, A. D. Shaw and A .O. Stevens. The next few years became a period of transition as the leaders of the church decided in 1921 to move to a location nearer the University of Texas. The land at Twenty Third Street and San Antonio Street was purchased. A new building designed by church member, Hugo Kuehne, was dedicated on December 9,1923. Mr. Kuehne incorporated many of the stained glass windows from the former sanctuary when designing our current church. The Reverend Almon Stevens was the assistant who became pastor on Reverend Dr. Briggs' death on June 18, 1923. Mr. Stevens resigned on July 1, 1924 due to ill health.
The Reverend Ruel P. Snider became pastor in January 1925. He emphasized work with students at the University of Texas. Many members of the University faculty and their families as well as students, became members of the church, and in time the name changed to the Congregational Church of Austin. Reverend Snider left on December 2, 1928 for a church at Hilo, Hawaii. It should be noted that some time during these years after World War I, several German families left the local churches due to discrimination after the war. They were holding church services in individual homes, when the Congregational Church asked them to join their church. Among those families were the Schoch and the Kuehne families.
Reverend S. E. Frost became minister on September 1, 1929. He continued to emphasize student participation by offering an open house on Friday with dancing. The idea of dancing at church caused dissent among some of the older members. One of the mature members who supported the youth and student activities was Hallie Barrickman. She supported a young women's calisthenics/dancing class in the fellowship hall. To prevent young men from being tempted to peek in through the windows, Mrs. Barrickman told the women to open the top windows only. The problem with this suggestion was the UT men's dormitory was just across the lot from the fellowship hall, and the men could go to the second or third floors and watch the women to their heart's content. The church also sponsored coed dances approved by the Dean of Women at the university, using a gramophone for music. The church invited University of Texas students who had no other church affiliation to attend services and established a special student membership category for them. The Fellowship Players was an acting troupe that gave four one-act plays each year. When other churches in the area had similar groups, competitions were held.
Reverend S. Marcus Houge succeeded Reverend Frost in 1937. There is an anecdote regarding Reverend Houge's beginnings in Austin. The story goes that he arrived in Austin from Chicago, Illinois by train. When he arrived at his room and opened his luggage, he realized he had luggage belonging to a nun who had since continued on her trip, along with his belongings. Fortunately, Will Trentman (probably Trenckman), a church member, took him to Scarbrough's department store, and he was nicely fitted in a Scarbrough suit. He arrived the Sunday morning in a white linen suit with matching shoes, and sat in the back of the church and observed. He was the subject of much after-church conversation, as he was quite a dashing figure at 6'3" tall. It should also be noted that he married Hildegard Kuehne and Rizer Everett on June 26, 1939. Hildegard is a descendent of one of the German families who had joined the church after World War I. Reverend Houge continued student ministry with an average attendance of forty-five students in the Fellowship Club. A group called the Campus Critics, who discussed books on social, economic, and political issues, was added to the program. Another member of the church who benefited from the church family was Mr. McNeely. He studying to be a dentist at U.T and his funds were low. His was allowed to live in a small place in the basement of the church if he would keep the furnace stoked. Reverend Houge read Lenten meditations on KNOE Radio and was asked to continue by popular demand. The Easter service that year was highlighted by the refurbished chancel and the addition of a Junior Choir in new vestments made by the women of the church. The church began a unified church service that was performed at an annual picnic with the San Antonio Congregational Church. Church meetings during this period were concerned with civil liberties, natural resources, taxation, amendments to the Texas Constitution, U.S. non-involvement in the next war, and extensions and encouragement of Militarism (which led to campaigning against the establishment of an ROTC unit on the campus). The young people of the church started going to church camp at Craterville, Oklahoma. Leadership was given to cooperative student groups. The Reverend Houge left in the summer of 1940 for Westwood Congregational Church in West Los Angeles.
Reverend Milton Maxwell took over the ministry in 1940 and continued the program already begun with steady growth and development. Reverend Maxwell served the church part-time and was also a graduate student in sociology at the University of Texas. His leadership caused the creation of many inter-religious efforts to improve the community. Unitarian, Community, Quaker, Union and Protestant students were invited to a special dinner. Some topics of discussion were: 1. Support of the Committee for War Victims; 2. Research on ways and means of raising the nutritional level of residents of Austin and the larger Texas community; 3. Search for more adequate medical care for residents of Austin and Travis counties; 4. Study of recommendations made by the Governor's Commission on Improving Public Education in the state of Texas. Some of the social projects brought forth from the discussions included: 1.A low-cost diet class of ten sessions held in the church kitchen; 2. The Pilgrim Fellowship held joint meetings with students from Tillotson College; 3. A Community Canning Center was established in the kitchen. However, a Sunday American-Statesman article attracted too many participants. Reverend Maxwell served as mentor to young members of the church. Mathis Blackstock says, "Milton's sermons were the antithesis of ponderous or self-importance; they were catchy and would make you chuckle occasionally. The "meat" in them fed me in my spiritual life as a college student."
Church interest was indicated by an average attendance of ninety-nine with an oversubscribed budget in 1944. After earning his doctorate in1945, Reverend Maxwell, his wife Charlotte and their sons, Douglas and Ross moved to Washington State where he decided to teach.
After graduating from Vanderbilt Seminary, Reverend Fred Cole became minister on January 1, 1946. A large turnover of the faculty at the University of Texas in a faculty/administration struggle during the period deprived the church of some of its major financial support, and payments to the Church Building Society were suspended. Outside aid helped keep the church together. A 1949 study of University Community Church was made with the following findings: "The Austin Church has the most liberal membership and the most consistent attendance of churches of the same size. The average attendance of ninety in 1947 is above average for a church of this size. Church school attendance of seventy-five had thirty in the children's department, with forty-five in the two student and adult groups."
A basement was excavated under the Fellowship Room (then the Student Lounge) with volunteer workers removing dirt by hand with buckets and wheelbarrows. A room measuring 27' by 27' provided additional space for church school and fellowship dinners. Pilgrim Guild, a second women's group, was formed for women who could only meet at night. Fred Cole left to pastor the Congregational Church in Coral Gables, Florida.
On July 1, 1950, Reverend A .B. Miller became pastor. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, Reverend Miller and his family were the first occupants of our new parsonage built on a lot donated by J. M. Kuehne. The Lutheran Campus Ministry began in the old parsonage beside the church, but the building was later used for a child care establishment. Reverend Miller taught at Huston-Tillotson College and was Executive Secretary to the Austin Council of Churches. The name of the church was changed on March 28,1951 to The Congregational Church of Austin. Several members left the church at this time to start a separate Unitarian church. An unidentified member of the Congregational Church of Austin left a legacy to the Unitarian church, which paid for its present building. Student's work and social emphasis continued and the church became financially self-supporting with some funds being furnished for student work. The Millers left in 1957 to pastor the North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
The period of 1957 to 1959 marks another transition period for the church. Reverend William B. Mathews was the minister during this period. He arranged for leaders of the denomination to talk with the members about what changes needed to be made. The name change of Pilgrim United Church of Christ was rejected. Three Congregational leaders, Dr. Philip Widenhouse, Dr. Stanley North and Dr. John Scotfield suggested worship area changes. These included painting the woodwork the same as the walls, removing the globes under the fans and adding floodlights. It was suggested that the pulpit be pulled out of the recessed area to a place in front of the wall at the lower level. The members did not approve these suggestions, and drawings of renovations to the sanctuary were submitted to the Building Society that rejected them. Movement of the pulpit would ha greatly improved the clarity of the speaker for the congregation. This was a difficult time of challenge and learning for the church in that the members learned that idealism and desires cannot always overcome basic difference.
In 1959, the church experienced a life-infusing, joyful experience through the temporary ministry of Dr. Das Kelly Barnett. Reverend Dr. Das Kelly Barnett, who taught "Church and Society" at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest was an energetic and devoted friend to our congregation. He supplied the pulpit, and Reverent Frank Horak, who was working toward a degree, provided student leadership. Dr. Kelly Barnett gave us a six-week series of sermons that must have changed us significantly in our pastoral search. He was a child prodigy preacher from a Baptist Church in rural Arkansas as well as a consummate orator who could shout or whisper to our congregation, which would become totally absorbed in his ideas. Reverend Barnett also said to us, "There's a young pastor whom I knew in Seminary at Yale who now serves a church in Green River, Wyoming. I have an idea it's a good time for him to consider a move."
Thus, Reverend Towery became pastor in September1959. His wife, Eleanor Towery was the "unofficial" though essential part of the ministry. Together, they showed us what Christians look like. Their home was always open, no matter whom the guest might be, including strangers. Again, Mathis Blackstock says, "I remember a time when many of us were 'uptight' over, who knows what the issue was? John was the one person present who was calm and at peace; his equanimity gave us the calmness we needed at the time." The parsonage was a bit small for the Towery family, and the present parsonage was purchased in 1961 and eventually sold to Reverend Towery. During this period, work with the university students was done by students from the Episcopal and Presbyterian Seminaries. African-American membership rose to about 11% of the church membership during the 1960s. It should be noted that the first African-American member of the church joined during Reverend Miller's pastorate.
In the early 1960s, E.J. Krohn left a legacy of a building on Lavaca Street. This legacy provided a basis for our current educational wing. A long study under the leadership of Richard P. Swallow, an architect and member of the church, resulted in plans for renovation of the old building and construction of the new wing. A Building Fund campaign over-subscribed the goal of $25,000 by over $4,000. Spiraling construction costs caused an abbreviation of the project. No renovation work on the old building was accomplished and only three floors of the new wing were completed. Dedication services were held on September 28, 1969.