First Baptist Church in Carbon
Carbon, Eastland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized under a brush arbor soon after the founding of the town of Carbon, this congregation traces its history to 1885. The Rev. W.B. Cobb served as first pastor of the church, which began with twelve charter members. Through the years the congregation has grown and established organizations such as the Woman's Missionary Society and youth programs. Members of the church have participated in area missionary activities. First Baptist Church has been part of the history of Carbon for over one hundred years. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized under a brush arbor soon after the town of Carbon was founded, this Baptist congregation traces its roots to 1885, when the Rev. W. B. Cobb gathered twelve charter members. Over the decades it added a Woman's Missionary Society and youth programs and took part in area mission work. First Baptist has been woven into Carbon's life for well over a century.
Why it matters
Congregations like this one anchored the small farming towns that spread across late-nineteenth-century Texas.
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Related people
- · W. B. Cobb
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Carbon City Jail
Carbon, TX
After a jailbreak destroyed Carbon's 1905 lockup, the town built this squat reinforced-concrete calaboose with a single steel door in 1921. Lacking lights or heat, it was meant only to hold prisoners briefly before transfer, and it often stood empty—used in World War II for scrap-drive collections and, by local custom, to lock up newlyweds on their wedding nights. It survives as a rare example of a building type once common in small Texas towns.
Long Branch Baptist Church
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The Connellee House
Eastland, TX
Charles U. Connellee came from Kentucky as a surveyor in 1874, platted the town of Eastland, and promoted it as a county seat, opening much of West Texas to settlement. He built the lower story of this home in 1876 from lumber hauled by ox-wagon from Dallas and kept open house for travelers across the region, with a second story added in 1924.
Early Settlers of Eastland County
Eastland, TX
Cattle grazed the Eastland County grasslands in the 1850s, and the U.S. Army's frontier forts drew a first trickle of families from the older Southern states. The Civil War emptied the region when the garrisons withdrew and settlers fled to fortified refuges like Blair's Fort, but pioneers returned afterward and organized the county in 1873. A contested county-seat fight moved the government from Merriman to the newly founded town of Eastland in 1875.