Rising Star, Texas

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History

First settlers--families of Andrew Agnew, Isaac Agnew, Fletcher Fields, David McKinley, Allis Smith and W. W. Smith--arrived in a wagon train from Gregg County, Jan. 6, 1876. Area was known for hardships: Indian raids, vigilante activities, gunfights. But a stable community developed around log school-church building erected in 1876. First store was founded about 1879 by Thomas W. Anderson and son William. Post office established 1880. The most creditable story as to how the town got its name is that the settlers suggested the name Star for the post office but it was rejected by the U.S. Postal authorities as another Texas town had that name. The settlers argued all night over the name selection, looked up and saw the morning star as they started home from their meeting and agreed to call it Rising Star. The city was first incorporated in 1891. In a 1905 election, there was a vote to dissolve the corporation but the charter was restored later the same year. Rising Star is the home of Texas (1939-1941) poet laureate Lexie Dean Robertson. Unique local structure is city hall built of stone from buried petrified forest. Economy is based on ranching, farming (a chief crop is Spanish peanuts), commercial pecans, industry, oil. - Historical Marker located at the City Park, erected in 1968.

First United Methodist Church of Rising Star. Rising Star was only a sparsely settled community when schoolteacher James Irby organized this congregation in 1879. The Rev. L.S. Chamberlain of Sipe Springs led the first service, which was attended by Irby, his wife Sallie, and Dennis Bond, in a small log building east of the present town. The congregation worshiped at several locations before 1888, when member Lucy L. Anderson donated a plot of ground for the building of a small frame structure at the present site, where the church held worship services and Sunday school classes for nearly forty years. In 1903 the Rev. D.A. McGuire was appointed to serve the First Methodist Church of Rising Star and became the fellowship's first full-time pastor. The 1920 oil boom brought new members into the church, resulting in the need for larger facilities. The current church building was completed in 1926 during the pastorate of the Rev. Fizer M. Noe. For more than one hundred years, the First United Methodist Church of Rising Star has provided the community with significant service and leadership. Its emphasis on Christian education and mission work has produced a number of ministers and missionaries from among its members. Historical Marker, erected in 1984, located at South Anderson at West College.