First Baptist Church George West
George West, Live Oak County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By 1912, when George W. West began developing his namesake town in Live Oak County, Oakville Baptist Church, located in the county seat of Oakville, had an active ministry locally and throughout the county. Six other Love Oak County communities maintained at least part-time Baptist churches and ministries.Baptists who lived in or near George West traveled to one of these churches at least once a month for designated Sunday services. Ministers in these early churches pastored two or three small churches at a time, alternating preaching Sundays. When the railroad bypassed Oakville, citizens voted to move the county seat to George West, and new churches were established.First Baptist Church of George West held its founding meeting on April 6, 1919, in the town's local printing office. Following a sermon, prayer and hymns, eleven people presented for charter membership. At this very first meeting, the new church members pledged collarborative mission donations and set a precedent followed to this day to serve others.Funding and resources continue to assist the George West community as well as locations abroad. Following disasters or epidemics, the church unites to donate goods or services. Locally, the church actively supports the South Texas Baptist Children's Home and Camp Zephyr, as well as a benevolence program, county jail ministry, fund raisers and youth organizations. With a mission of service through faith, First Baptist Church of George West continues to impact the community, the region and beyond.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1912, cattleman-developer George W. West began building the south Texas town that bore his name, and when the railroad's snub of Oakville shifted the county seat his way, new congregations took root. First Baptist Church of George West gathered its eleven charter members in a local printing office in April 1919, pledging from the very first meeting to serve others. Across the next century that founding impulse—disaster relief, a children's home, jail and youth ministries—kept the church woven into the life of Live Oak County.
Why it matters
Small-town churches were the social glue of rural Texas, and this congregation's century of service traces how faith communities helped new railroad settlements mature into lasting towns.
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Related people
- · George W. West
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Chauncy and Minnie Canfield House
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Town founder George Washington West invited merchant Chauncy Canfield to open a business in his brand-new town of George West in 1914; Canfield came ahead to start a store, and his wife Minnie, sister, and three children arrived on the first passenger train. Designed in Prairie and English cottage style, their house was the first family home in the young town. Moved a block in 1947 and given a Southern Colonial face, it remained in the family until 1988.
George West First United Methodist Church
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Protestant worship in George West began in 1914 with Methodist circuit riders, and by 1916 a small band of charter members organized formally on land donated by town founder George W. West. Through droughts, floods, and the ups and downs of a South Texas ranching economy, the congregation raised money in inventive ways—running a tea room and even growing and selling cotton—to build and expand its church. Over the decades national mergers reshaped its name and reach, from a rural Methodist mission to a congregation supporting causes as far away as Korea and Africa.
Charles and Emma Tullis
George West, TX
Charles "Mr. Charlie" Tullis and his wife Emma carried deep Texas roots: his forebears walked from Tennessee in 1834 and gave sons and supplies to the San Jacinto campaign, while her ancestor John McGloin died in the Goliad Massacre. Born in 1873, Charlie served as Live Oak County sheriff from 1909 — known for delivering tax notices without a gun — through the county seat's move from Oakville to George West, and later spent thirty-eight years as founding president of the First National Bank of George West. He and Emma married in 1913 and are buried among the Irish Catholic pioneers at Gussettville.
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George West, TX
George West was quite literally willed into being by the rancher whose name it carries. In 1913, George Washington West secured a railroad route through Live Oak County and donated municipal buildings and lots to seed a new town along the line. Within six years it had wrested away the county seat, and it grew into a busy market and shipping point for the region's cattle and cotton.