First Baptist Church of Kerrville
Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Kerrville Baptist Church was organized in June 1887 with eleven charter members. Seven years later the name was changed to First Baptist Church of Kerrville. Originally meeting in a Union church with other denominations in the community, the Baptist congregation built its first sanctuary in 1897. It was replaced by a brick building in 1914, and the present house of worship was completed in 1951. A part of Kerrville history for over one hundred years, this church continues to serve the community. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Eleven charter members gathered in 1887 to organize a Baptist congregation in the young Hill Country town of Kerrville, at first sharing a union meeting house with other denominations. Renamed First Baptist Church within a few years, the congregation built its own sanctuary in 1897, replaced it with brick in 1914, and raised its present home in 1951. For well over a century it has been woven into the life of the community.
Why it matters
The church's growth from a shared frontier meeting house to a permanent sanctuary traces how faith communities helped knit together the settling Texas Hill Country.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville
Kerrville, TX
Presbyterians in the Hill Country town of Kerrville first worshipped in a shared Union Church before organizing their own congregation in 1888. A modest wooden church gave way in 1923 to the present Beaux Arts sanctuary, distinguished by a two-story entry with Doric columns, a classical pediment, and tall arched stained-glass windows. The building reflects the growing prosperity and architectural ambition of small Texas towns in the early twentieth century.
James Kerr
Kerrville, TX
James Kerr, a Kentucky-born veteran of the War of 1812 and former Missouri legislator, came to Texas in 1825 as surveyor general of Green DeWitt's colony and a member of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred." He selected the site of Gonzales and named it for the governor of Coahuila, endured the deaths of his first wife and children, and spent decades as a surveyor, Texas Ranger major, and delegate to the conventions that steered Texas toward independence. In 1856 pioneer Joshua Brown gave land here so that Kerr County would bear his old friend's name.
Kerr County
Kerrville, TX
Carved from sprawling Bexar County and organized in the spring of 1856, Kerr County took its name from James Kerr (1790â1850), a pivotal figure in early Anglo-Texas settlement. Kerr was the first American settler on the Guadalupe River, general manager of DeWitt's Colony, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and a congressman of the young republic. The county seat bounced between Kerrsville, Comfort, and finally Kerrville as the region took shape.
Early Settlers of Kerr County
Kerrville, TX
Kentucky-born Joshua D. Brown came to Texas in 1830, did military duty for the Republic, and in 1846 led ten shingle makers to the cypress-rich headwaters of the Guadalupe, building a camp of picket houses to hand-rive shingles despite the danger of Indian raids. His shingle trade was the first industry on the site of Kerrville; Brown bought 2,640 acres, donated the townsite, and insisted the county be named for his friend, surveyor James Kerr.