First Baptist Church of Galveston
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. James Huckins, a visiting Baptist missionary agent, met with nine charter members in the home of Thomas Borden to organize a Baptist church in Galveston on January 30, 1840. Borden's brother Gail Borden, Jr., and sister-in-law Penelope Borden were baptized a few days later at the beach. James Huckins became the new church's first pastor. Only recently freed from the Mexican law requiring Texas immigrants to embrace Catholicism, many Galvestonians regarded the formation of new Protestant churches as cause for celebration. A log cabin sanctuary was erected on this site in 1847. At that time, the membership included many slaves. In 1855, several white businessmen purchased a lot for the black members to establish their own church, and Avenue L. Baptist Church was born. The property was formally deeded to Avenue L. Baptist Church after the Civil War. After serving fourteen years as deacon of First Baptist Church, Gail Borden, Jr., returned to his native New York. As a result of experiments begun while he was in Galveston, Borden obtained a patent for condensed milk in 1858. The congregation's second building, erected in 1883, featured seven steeples. It was destroyed in the 1900 storm, and the original log cabin sanctuary was crushed by the falling church building. A replacement building was constructed with heavy mortar walls and a dome, and was dedicated in 1905. It served for sixty years before being replaced by the fourth church structure. The First Baptist Church of Galveston celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1990. By the end of the 20th century the complex had expanded to cover an entire city block. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1840 in a private home, this was among the first Protestant congregations formed after the Republic of Texas freed settlers from the Mexican requirement to be Catholic, an occasion many Galvestonians welcomed with celebration. Its early membership included enslaved people, and in 1855 white members bought a lot so Black worshippers could found their own Avenue L Baptist Church, deeded to them after the Civil War. Among the founding deacons was Gail Borden, Jr., who drew on experiments begun in Galveston to patent condensed milk in 1858; the congregation weathered the catastrophic 1900 hurricane that destroyed its steepled sanctuary.
Why it matters
The church's story braids together religious freedom in the new republic, the fault lines of slavery that birthed a separate Black congregation, and the inventive spirit that gave the world condensed milk.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Huckins
- · Gail Borden, Jr.
- · Thomas Borden
Related events
- · 1900 Galveston hurricane
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Playhouse Theatre
Houston, TX
Opened on Houston's Main Street in 1951, The Playhouse Theatre was among the first buildings in the country designed specifically for "theatre in the round," seating 300 spectators encircling a revolving central stage. Producers Joanna Albus and William Rozan mounted high-quality productions here, and in 1953 the playwright Tennessee Williams himself directed a premiere on its stage. Rising costs forced the original company to close in 1954, but later owners kept the space alive as a theater and cinema until it became the National African American Museum in 2004.
Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church
Galveston, TX
Galveston's African American Methodist community reaches back to 1848, and after the Civil War the congregation that became Reedy Chapel A.M.E. spawned a lineage of churches — among them Wesley Tabernacle, organized out of a split in 1868. Its sanctuary survived fire in 1879 and the catastrophic 1900 hurricane, only to be rebuilt by a Black carpentry crew and later refaced in brick when the city's grade raising reached the neighborhood. Beyond worship, the church became a center of Black civic life and, in 1914, home to what is described as the first anti-lynching society in Texas.
Jack Johnson
Galveston, TX
Galveston native Arthur John "Jack" Johnson honed his fighting skills on the city's wharves before becoming, in 1908, the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion. His dominance—capped by the 1910 "Fight of the Century"—provoked both jubilation and violent backlash, and a 1912 Mann Act prosecution drove him into years of exile. Bold, defiant, and unbowed, the "Galveston Giant" refused to bend to the racial hierarchy of his era.
Juneteenth
Galveston, TX
Though Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people in the rebelling states free as of January 1863, the news—and the Union power to enforce it—did not reach Texas until the Civil War was over. On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and read General Order No. 3, informing the people of Texas that all slaves were free. Freed African Americans began marking "Emancipation Day" the very next year, and the celebration grew into Juneteenth, which became a Texas state holiday in 1979 and is now observed around the world.