First Baptist Church of Killeen
Killeen, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This fellowship was established in 1873 as the Baptist Church of Christ at Palo Alto. In 1883, one year after Killeen was founded on the rail line, the congregation moved three miles southwest to the new town. The Rev. Thomas H. Bacon served as first pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church of Killeen, as it was renamed. The large influx of people who came to the area during the building of Ft. Hood in 1942 resulted in a great increase in membership. Through its active mission work, First Baptist Church of Killeen has led in the formation of several area congregations. (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1873 as the Baptist Church of Christ at Palo Alto, this fellowship followed its people to the new railroad town of Killeen in 1883 and was renamed under its first pastor, the Rev. Thomas H. Bacon. Its greatest surge came in 1942, when the building of nearby Fort Hood flooded the area with newcomers and swelled the congregation. Over the years the church helped spin off several other area congregations through its mission work.
Why it matters
The church's growth mirrors the transformation of a quiet Central Texas farm town into a booming military community after Fort Hood arrived during World War II.
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Related people
- · Thomas H. Bacon
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Joseph Dennis Lands
Killeen vicinity, TX
Joseph Dennis and his wife Isa left Arkansas for Texas in 1840, and when Bell County was organized a decade later he chaired the committee that chose Nolan Springs—today's Belton—as the county seat. He became the county's first treasurer, ran a grist mill and lumber yard, and assembled tracts of land including this acreage, long known as Elmore Ranch. The property has stayed in his family's hands ever since.
John Blackburn Log House
Killeen, TX
John C.G. Blackburn, born in Tennessee in 1832, followed his father's earlier land claims to Bell County in 1854 and established a 30-acre farm near the Palo Alto community. When the Civil War came in 1861 he joined the Confederate militia, and family tradition holds he raised this oak-log house in 1863 just before enlisting in the cavalry and drawing frontier duty along the Rio Grande. The cabin outlasted its builders, surviving a Fort Hood expansion in 1954 and relocation before being rebuilt here in 1976 as an artifact of frontier life.
City of Killeen
Killeen, TX
Killeen was born in 1882 as a switching station at the midpoint of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad's line from Temple to Lampasas, taking its name from an Irish-born rail official, Frank P. Killeen. Settlers from older communities like Sugar Loaf and Palo Alto gathered around the depot, and by 1883 the town had a school, gristmills, and a cotton gin. Long an agricultural center, Killeen was transformed in 1942 by the arrival of Camp Hood — now Fort Hood — into one of the fastest-growing towns in Texas.
Bethel Primitive Baptist Church
Killeen, TX
Bethel Primitive Baptist Church began around 1864 in the Palo Alto community northeast of present Killeen, sharing a Union Church building with other denominations. When the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad cut through Bell County in 1882, the new town of Killeen drew Palo Alto's residents away, and by 1889 the congregation had relocated to this site. Its steep gable roof, Gothic-detailed doors, and lintel-capped windows make it likely the oldest church building in Killeen.