First Baptist Church of Luling
Luling, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Seventeen charter members, with encouragement from the Rev. G. W. Lane, district missionary, organized this congregation on Dec. 3, 1875. Worship services were held outdoors and in the Masonic Lodge Hall until spring of 1876, when the first church building was erected on this lot donated by Thomas W. Peirce. A revival in the fall of 1876 increased the membership to 50. In 1939 a fire destroyed the sanctuary, education wing, and parsonage. Cornerstone for the present church building was laid on Nov. 13, 1939, with Gov. W. Lee O'Daniel delivering the dedicatory address.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Seventeen charter members organized this Baptist congregation in December 1875 with encouragement from district missionary the Rev. G.W. Lane, worshipping outdoors and in the Masonic Lodge Hall until the first church rose in 1876. A revival that autumn swelled membership to fifty. After a 1939 fire destroyed the sanctuary, education wing, and parsonage, the cornerstone of the present building was laid that November, with Gov. W. Lee O'Daniel delivering the dedicatory address.
Why it matters
The church charts the rhythm of frontier faith in a young railroad town, from open-air revivals to a Depression-era rebuilding blessed by a sitting governor.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · G.W. Lane
- · Thomas W. Peirce
- · W. Lee O'Daniel
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
William Johnson Cabin
Luling, TX
The Rev. William Johnson, a farmer and Baptist minister who came to Texas in 1833, built this shotgun-style cabin near Tenney Creek in the 1870s and raised five children there. His land passed to the Connolly family in 1893, and a country doctor even used the cabin as an office late in that decade. The Luling Garden Club restored the structure after it was donated and relocated in 1972.
Episcopal Church of the Annunciation
Luling, TX
Luling's very first church building rose from the frontier energy of a brand-new railroad town founded in 1874. The area's first Episcopal bishop held his inaugural service in the missionary district inside a railway passenger car in Luling that December, and within a few years the Rev. Nelson Ayres arrived as vicar and built this chapel largely with his own hands, leading its first service in 1877.
McNeil Cemetery
Luling, TX
Founded about 1867 on land deeded to the Soda Springs Methodist Church by early settler Margret Hinds, this cemetery took its first recorded burial—Henrietta Gant—in 1868. Once known as Soda Springs Methodist Cemetery, it was renamed McNeil sometime before the church disbanded in 1919. More than 390 graves hold the area's early settlers and their descendants, and an association still cares for the grounds.
San Marcos Primitive Baptist Church
Luling, TX
Organized in 1853 in the home of pastor George Daniels, the San Marcos Primitive Baptist Church took its name from the nearby river and gathered just five charter members. When Daniels stepped down in 1862, James Milton Baker began a remarkable forty-eight-year ministry that carried the congregation through a flash flood that destroyed its first building and early records. Baker deeded land here in 1886, and the church endured on this spot before moving to Luling in 1930.