First Baptist Church of Lockney
Lockney, Floyd County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Led by The Rev. I. B. Kimbrough, nineteen charter members organized the First Missionary Baptist Church of Floyd County in December 1890. Early worship services were held in R. M. Irick's dugout home and the Irick Schoolhouse southwest of Lockney. In 1899 the congregation merged with Lockney Baptist Church of Lone Star but retained the name First Missionary Baptist Church of Floyd County. The congregation met in the town schoolhouse until a sanctuary was built in 1906. The name was changed to First Baptist Church of Lockney in 1913. (1990)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In December 1890, nineteen charter members led by the Rev. I. B. Kimbrough organized what became the First Missionary Baptist Church of Floyd County, worshipping first in a settler's dugout home and a country schoolhouse on the West Texas plains. The congregation merged with a neighboring Baptist church in 1899, met in the town schoolhouse until building its own sanctuary in 1906, and took the name First Baptist Church of Lockney in 1913.
Why it matters
Frontier congregations like this one were among the first institutions to knit scattered High Plains homesteaders into a community, worshipping in dugouts and schoolhouses before towns had even taken shape.
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Related people
- · I. B. Kimbrough
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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