First Baptist Church NBC of San Marcos
San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1866 Rev. Moses Johns met with freedmen to organize the Colored Baptist Church Zion, San Marcos’ first African American congregation. In 1872 the church became a charter member of the Guadalupe Baptist Association. That same year, the Ku Klux Klan burned the church’s first sanctuary, located on Guadalupe St. where Tuttle Lumber Co. now stands. The church built a Victorian-style sanctuary on Comal (now MLK) Street in 1908 under Rev. G.F. Curry’s leadership. The name First Baptist Church NBC (National Baptist Convention) of San Marcos was adopted in the 1980s. In 1986 the congregation moved to its new Mitchell Street sanctuary where the congregation continues to serve.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1866 the Rev. Moses Johns gathered freedmen to organize the Colored Baptist Church Zion, the first African American congregation in San Marcos. In 1872, the year it helped charter the Guadalupe Baptist Association, the Ku Klux Klan burned its first sanctuary; the congregation rebuilt on Comal Street in 1908 and kept worshiping through name changes and a later move. It endures today as First Baptist Church NBC of San Marcos.
Why it matters
Its survival through Klan violence testifies to the resilience of Black churches that anchored African American life in the Reconstruction-era South.
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Related people
- · Moses Johns
Themes & tags
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