First Baptist Church of Johnson City
Johnson City, Blanco County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1879, on July 19-20 or August 16-17, seven members formed the Missionary Baptist Church of Christ, present First Baptist Church. The Rev. James E. Bell (b. 1843) held services in the schoolhouse. Lumber for the original church building, erected here in 1900, was hauled in wagons from Austin. A 5,500-square feet building dedicated in 1951 and destroyed by fire in 1966 was replaced by the present structure in 1968. Some members of President Lyndon B. Johnson's family attended this church. In 1978 mission work of the church expanded to include sponsorship of Pedernales Valley Mission. (1979)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Seven charter members formed this Missionary Baptist congregation in 1879, meeting first in the local schoolhouse while lumber for their 1900 church was hauled by wagon all the way from Austin. Fire destroyed a 1951 building in 1966, and the present structure followed in 1968. Members of President Lyndon B. Johnson's family were among those who worshiped here.
Why it matters
A Hill Country church tied to the family of a future president, it shows the deep local roots from which national American lives so often grew.
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Related people
- · Rev. James E. Bell
- · Lyndon B. Johnson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
L. B. J. Boyhood Home
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Sam Ealy Johnson Jr., an educator and six-term Texas legislator, and his wife Rebekah, an educator and journalist, bought this modest 1901 frame house in 1913 and raised five children here. From its east porch in 1937, their eldest son Lyndon launched his first campaign for Congress. That race began a political ascent that carried him to the presidency of the United States.
Home County of Pioneer Leader Joseph Wilson Baines
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Born in Louisiana in 1846 and brought to Texas as a boy, Joseph Wilson Baines served in the Civil War, then built a career as a teacher, lawyer, newspaper publisher, and public servant, holding the office of Texas Secretary of State from 1883 to 1887. He practiced law in Blanco before his death in 1906. His daughter Rebecca married Sam Ealy Johnson and became the mother of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the nation's 36th president.
Blanco High School
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Chartered in 1883, Blanco High School opened its white limestone schoolhouse to students in October 1884, blending a shorter public term with a longer private one. Over the decades it grew through consolidation and new buildings, always serving the ranching country of the Texas Hill Country. A Texas Historic Landmark since 1984, it marks generations of rural education.
Williams Creek School
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