Editing Elkhart, Texas (section)

== History ==
The history of Elkhart starts with [[Daniel Parker (Baptist)|Daniel Parker's]] [[Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists|Pilgrim Predestinarian Baptist Church]]. It was formed in [[Crawford County, Illinois]] in 1833, because the government of Mexico would not allow the Baptist church's organization within their borders. Daniel, and his father John Parker, led their congregation to Texas, settling in [[Old Three Hundred|Austin's Colony]] in 1834. While John Parker's group settled and established [[Fort Parker State Park|Fort Parker (Limestone County)]], Daniel's group settled first in the territory that became [[Grimes County, Texas|Grimes County]] and later moved to the area around [[Anderson County, Texas#Settlers|Fort Houston (Anderson County)]]. Daniel Parker spent his time traveling and preaching in the homes of his scattered congregation. In 1836, the threats of [[Antonio López de Santa Anna#Texas Revolution 1835–1836|General Santa Anna's troops]] in April 1836, and the [[Fort Parker massacre|attack of Fort Parker]] in May 1836 sent the remnant of John Parker's group to seek protection near Fort Houston. The Pilgrim Church resumed meetings in February 1837, and resolved in 1839 to build a church house, selecting 2.5 acres "on the north side of the bluff of the Harrison Fork of Bayou Blue near Daniel Parker's house". They constructed a log house and cleared a burial ground where Daniel Parker was buried in 1844.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hohes |first1=Pauline Buck |title=A centennial history of Anderson County, Texas |date=1936 |publisher=Naylor Co. |location=San Antonio, Tex. |pages=91,237}}</ref> The church, now called Old Pilgrim Church, which has been replaced several times since the first log house, was the center of the community called Parker's Settlement, or just Pilgrim.<ref name="Hesler">{{cite web |last1=Hesler |first1=Samuel B. |title=Pilgrim Primitive Baptist Church |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pilgrim-primitive-baptist-church |website=Handbook of Texas |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=2022-02-17}}</ref><ref name="Hesler2">{{cite web |last1=Hesler |first1=Samuel B. |title=Parker, Daniel (1781–1844) |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/parker-daniel |website=Handbook of Texas |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=2022-02-17}}</ref>

About the same time Parker's followers were getting established, the first Methodist sermon was given by Rev. William Stevenson, whose members built their church about 1840, one mile west of Pilgrim Baptist Church.

The community was granted a post office in March 1850, named Elkheart (later changed to Elkhart) which was located four miles south of Elkhart's current position, and named for a Native who had helped the early settlers.<ref name="Bridges">{{cite web |last1=Bridges |first1=Dorothy K. |title=Elkhart, TX |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/elkhart-tx |website=Handbook of Texas |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=2022-02-17}}</ref>

As the [[Houston]] to [[Palestine, Texas|Palestine]] rail was being finished in 1872, Elkhart shifted north to the train depot, and thus began to be considered the "railroad village" associated with the Parker settlement.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas|language=en|date=1893|publisher=Lewis Publishing Company|location=Chicago|page=287|url=http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46827/m1/293/sizes/l/|access-date=2014-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072202/http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46827/m1/293/sizes/l/|archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Texas Railroad History - Tower 173 - Palestine |url=http://txrrhistory.com/towers/173/173.htm |website=Texas Railroad History |access-date=2022-02-17}}</ref>