Ebenezer (Third) Baptist Church
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Ebenezer (Third) Baptist Church was organized by Reverend C. Ward, February 1875, in the home of Mrs. Elisa Hawkins at 1104 East Tenth Street. The first frame structure was built at the corner of Catalpa and Curve streets. The membership outgrew this church, and a brick sanctuary with stained glass windows was erected at the corner of East Tenth and San Marcos streets in 1885. In 1915, the stucco tabernacle was erected. The present Sanctuary and Education Complex was erected in 1950-1955. The limestone and brick structure is of Gothic design and the tower houses the bell from the first brick church. Also, a parsonage was built at 1203 Cotton Street.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Ebenezer (Third) Baptist Church was organized in February 1875 in the home of Elisa Hawkins, part of the flowering of independent Black congregations across Texas in the years after emancipation. As the membership grew it moved from a simple frame building to a brick sanctuary with stained glass in 1885, a stucco tabernacle in 1915, and finally the Gothic limestone-and-brick complex built in the 1950s, whose tower still holds the bell from the first brick church. The congregation's steady expansion mirrors the deep roots of religious life in East Austin's Black community.
Why it matters
Churches like Ebenezer were the civic and spiritual anchors of African American communities in the post-emancipation South, sustaining generations through Reconstruction and beyond.
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Related people
- · C. Ward
- · Elisa Hawkins
Themes & tags
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