First Baptist Church of Floydada
Floydada, Floyd County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On July 19, 1891, the Rev. I. B. Kimbrough and a small group of worshipers met in the dugout home of Joe Arnold to organize the Floyd City Baptist Church. The congregation conducted early worship services in the North Side School building and at the local Methodist church. After the town's name was changed to Floydada, the church was renamed First Baptist Church of Floydada. Several traveling ministers served the congregation during its early years. The Rev. R. E. L. Muncy was called as first resident pastor in 1897, and he organized the first Sunday School in 1899. The congregation completed its first frame sanctuary at this site in 1908. Over the years additional property was acquired and larger structures were built to serve the growing membership. Throughout its history, the First Baptist Church has served the community with a variety of worship, educational, and outreach programs. The members and pastors have placed an emphasis on both foreign and home mission activities. The church continues to play an important role in Floyd County history. (1991)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On July 19, 1891, the Rev. I. B. Kimbrough and a handful of worshippers gathered in Joe Arnold's dugout home to organize the Floyd City Baptist Church, meeting early on in the North Side School and the local Methodist church. Renamed First Baptist Church of Floydada when the town changed its name, the congregation called its first resident pastor in 1897, started a Sunday School in 1899, and built its first frame sanctuary here in 1908, growing into a lasting fixture of Floyd County life.
Why it matters
Organized in a dugout on the West Texas plains, this congregation shows how faith communities anchored frontier settlement long before permanent towns and buildings existed.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · I. B. Kimbrough
- · R. E. L. Muncy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Methodist Church of Floydada
Floydada, TX
Methodism reached Floyd County in the 1880s, when circuit-riding preachers served scattered settlers at Della Plain and held services in J.S. McLain's general store — years before Floydada or the county itself was formally organized. After the county's 1890 organization made Floydada the seat, a Methodist congregation formed, worshiping first in the schoolhouse, then in a 1902 church that was moved to this site in 1913 and replaced by brick in 1918. The congregation has served the community for more than a century.
Floydada Lodge No. 712, A. F. & A. M.
Floydada, TX
Just a year after Floyd City — later renamed Floydada — became the seat of Floyd County, eighteen men organized this Masonic lodge in April 1891, receiving their charter that December. Early meetings gathered above a general store while the town found its feet on the South Plains. Over the decades lodge members filled county offices and civic organizations, growing right alongside the community.
First National Bank of Floydada
Floydada, TX
Rooted in the James B. Posey Bank of the 1890s, this institution became the Floyd County Bank in 1900 and, after winning a federal charter in 1903, the First National Bank. Its early stockholders were a roll call of Floyd County's founding businessmen, and it has stood on this site since 1912. Through boom and drought it helped finance the growth of the surrounding High Plains farm country.
Organization of Floyd County
Floydada, TX
Floyd County was carved out by the Texas Legislature in 1876, but which town would rule it was anything but settled. As railroad construction pushed westward from Wichita Falls and homesteaders poured in, rival townsites — Della Plain, Lockney, and finally Floyd City — jockeyed to become county seat. Voters settled the contest in May 1890 by choosing Floyd City, whose name changed to Floydada when its post office opened that September, and elected the county's first slate of officers.