Emhouse Baptist Church
Emhouse, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in the rural Kelm community (1.5 mi. W) in 1893, this congregation was chartered as the Tinkle Baptist Church under the direction of the Rev. B. N. Price, a pioneer Baptist missionary of the area. Worship services were first conducted in the community schoolhouse, which was located on land donated by early settler Nathan Tinkle. Later the church built a sanctuary adjacent to the school site. In October 1908 the members voted to move the church to Emhouse, which had been established two years earlier along the Trinity & Brazos River Valley Rail Line. The Kelm church building was relocated at this site and served the congregation for 30 more years. A community tabernacle, built in 1914 and in use until the 1940s, was the scene of early revivals which contributed greatly to the church's growth. The Emhouse Baptist Church has played a significant role in the development of the surrounding area. Since the earliest days of Emhouse, it has been a leader in community service and involvement. In addition, the church has been led by a number of prominent Baptist preachers, including the Rev. Dan Sharpley, who grew up here and later served as a missionary in Brazil.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation began in 1893 in the rural Kelm community as the Tinkle Baptist Church, gathered by pioneer missionary Rev. B. N. Price and worshiping first in a schoolhouse on land given by settler Nathan Tinkle. In 1908 the members voted to move to nearby Emhouse, a town just two years old and built along the Trinity & Brazos Valley rail line, relocating their frame building to serve for three more decades. A community tabernacle raised in 1914 hosted the revivals that fueled the church's growth into a center of local life.
Why it matters
The church's move from an isolated crossroads to a new railroad town traces how North Texas rural communities reorganized themselves around the coming of the railroads.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the late nineteenth century, Navarro County was cotton country. Small farms spread across the blackland prairie south of Dallas, and rural communities grew up around a schoolhouse, a church and a few neighboring families. Many of these small settlements had no rail line, and that mattered a great deal in an era when the railroad decided which towns thrived and which faded.
This was also a time of energetic church planting in rural Texas. Pioneer missionaries traveled the countryside, organizing congregations wherever they found enough believers. Early congregations often met in schoolhouses or other shared buildings before they could afford sanctuaries of their own.
In the early 1900s a new rail line, the Trinity & Brazos Valley, crossed the area, and Emhouse was founded along it in 1906. Local histories hold that the town was named for Edward M. House, a prominent Texas political figure connected with the railroad's development. Like many towns of its kind, Emhouse quickly drew people and institutions from the surrounding countryside.
People & events
The congregation began in 1893 in the rural Kelm community, about a mile and a half west of present-day Emhouse. It was organized as Tinkle Baptist Church under the direction of the Rev. B. N. Price, a pioneer Baptist missionary in the area. The name honored Nathan Tinkle, an early settler who had donated the land for the community schoolhouse, where the congregation first worshiped. Before long, members built a sanctuary next to the school site.
The defining moment came in October 1908. Members voted to move the church to Emhouse, which was then only two years old. They didn't simply start over: they relocated the Kelm church building itself to this site, where it served the congregation for about 30 more years. It's easy to picture the effort it took to move a frame church across the countryside, and what it said about the members' commitment to their new home.
In 1914 a community tabernacle was built, a large open-sided structure typical of the era's outdoor worship. It hosted revivals into the 1940s, and those revivals helped the church grow. Over time the congregation was led by a number of notable Baptist preachers. Among those connected to it was the Rev. Dan Sharpley, who grew up here and later served as a missionary in Brazil.
Its place in the American story
The story of Emhouse Baptist Church is a small but telling example of how railroads reshaped rural America. Across the country around the turn of the twentieth century, new rail lines drew people out of isolated crossroads communities and into fresh towns along the tracks. Churches, schools, stores and families followed, and older settlements often dwindled.
The church's history also reflects the central role congregations played in rural American life. Churches were more than places of worship: they were community centers, sources of mutual aid and gathering places for revivals that could draw whole regions together. The tabernacle revivals of 1914 to the 1940s belong to a long tradition of camp meetings and evangelical gatherings in American religious history.
Finally, the Rev. Dan Sharpley's path from this small Texas town to missionary work in Brazil reflects the global reach of American Baptist missions in the twentieth century. Even a tiny rural congregation could send its people out into the wider world.
If you visit
Emhouse is a small community in Navarro County, south of Dallas and not far from Corsicana. Come expecting a quiet rural town, not a busy stop. That quiet is part of the point: you're standing in a place that owes its existence to a railroad line and to the people who chose to build their lives along it.
As you look around, imagine the church building being hauled in from Kelm in 1908, and the crowds gathering at the tabernacle for summer revivals. Notice how the town's layout relates to the route of the old rail line, which was the reason the town existed. Please be respectful of church property and any services or events going on.
This marker fits easily into a back-roads drive through the Navarro County countryside. Pair it with nearby Corsicana and other small-town markers in the area for a day that traces how rural Texas organized itself around the railroads.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · B. N. Price
- · Nathan Tinkle
- · Dan Sharpley
Themes & tags
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