Corinth Baptist Church and School
Grand Saline, Van Zandt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The church and cemetery at this site are all that remain of the once-thriving community of Corinth. Settled during the 1800s, Corinth boasted a gin, grist mill, blacksmith shop, doctor's office, sawmill,stores, and a school during its early years. A post office, established in 1888, operated until 1906. An early Van Zandt County history records that a school existed on this property in 1849, taught by professor James J. Kuykendall. The log schoolhouse also served the Baptist church congregation. It was replaced about 1899 with a two-story building in which the Oddfellows also held their meetings. A third schoolhouse was built in 1916 and later was sold to the church to serve as Sunday School classrooms. Little is known of the origin of the Baptist congregation, since early church records were destroyed by fire. The earliest pastor on record is the Rev. Thomas McAdams Post (1843-1931), who came in 1884 and served a membership of 25. A Civil War veteran, Post is buried in the adjacent cemetery, which is the burial site of several other Civil War veterans and many early settlers in the Corinth area. Although little is left of the Corinth community, its history remains a strong part of Van Zandt County heritage. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the piney farmland of Van Zandt County, Corinth grew up in the mid-1800s as a self-contained frontier community, complete with gin, grist mill, blacksmith, sawmill, stores, and a log schoolhouse that also sheltered the Baptist congregation. A school stood here as early as 1849, and a post office served the town from 1888 to 1906. Today only the church and cemetery remain, the latter holding early settlers and several Civil War veterans, including the congregation's first recorded pastor, Rev. Thomas McAdams Post.
Why it matters
Corinth is a window into the rise and quiet vanishing of the small rural communities that once stitched together the American countryside, where church, school, and cemetery formed the enduring center of settlement life.
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Related people
- · Rev. Thomas McAdams Post
- · James J. Kuykendall
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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