First Baptist Church of Breckenridge
Breckenridge, Stephens County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Believed to have been organized in 1876, the First Baptist Church met in members' homes, local church buildings and the county courthouse with the Rev. C. C. Slaughter as their first minister. In 1895 the members erected a wood building on this site which served for many years. In 1921 a modern 3-story edifice replaced other structures. Many additions have been made, notably the Bates Chapel in 1937. Longtime First Baptist Church organizations include the Women's Missionary Union, formed in 1919, and the "Roughneck Bible Class" formed in 1940. The church remains active in missionary programs and community outreach. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized around 1876, the First Baptist Church of Breckenridge met in members' homes, borrowed buildings, and even the county courthouse before raising its own frame sanctuary here in 1895. A three-story brick edifice followed in 1921, expanding through the decades of the region's oil boom. Its "Roughneck Bible Class," founded in 1940, nods to the oilfield workers who filled the pews of this North Texas town.
Why it matters
The congregation's growth traces the arc of a small Texas town transformed by the discovery of oil in the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · C. C. Slaughter
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Stephens County Courthouse
Breckenridge, TX
Stephens County's first courthouse in 1872 was a plain pine building with officials' desks lining the walls; a three-story red stone structure with a tower replaced it in 1883. The discovery of oil in Breckenridge in the 1920s sent the population soaring and demanded far more space, so voters approved a bond in 1924 and Abilene architect David S. Castle designed the Classical Revival building dedicated on July 4, 1926. Its limestone façade, monumental stairs, and ten-columned entry still anchor the square, and portions of the 1883 courthouse were preserved nearby.
Breckenridge Stephens Walker
Breckenridge, TX
Breck Walker was a local boy who rose with his hometown, running a stagecoach line between Breckenridge and Ranger before turning to banking and buying control of the First National Bank. When oil was struck in the 1910s, he co-founded an oil company and rode the 1920 boom that swelled Breckenridge from about 1,500 people to 15,000 in a single year. His company built the town's first water system and newspaper, and he served as mayor until failing health forced him out in 1928.
Old First National Bank Building
Breckenridge, TX
The First National Bank of Breckenridge was founded in 1904 when Stephens County was still chiefly farm and ranch country. It moved into this Beaux Arts Classical Revival building in 1920 at the peak of the local oil boom, its Ionic columns and ornamented doorway announcing the sudden wealth pouring into the region. The structure served as the bank's home until 1972.
Breckenridge Stephens Walker Home
Breckenridge, TX
When the oil boom made Breckenridge one of Texas's overnight fortunes, banker and oilman Breckenridge Stephens Walker (1876–1929) built this three-story brick residence in 1922 as a wedding gift for his daughter, Pansy. Set commandingly atop a hill, the Tudor Revival house boasted the town's first central heating and — fittingly for a banker's home — a vault in the basement. It stands as a monument to fortunes made in the roaring days of the boom.