First Baptist Church of Orange
Orange, Orange County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1879 the Rev. Andrew Peddy helped organize this congregation with 18 charter members. They met in the frame Orange County courthouse and were served for a time by missionary preachers. Sarah A. Finch and Anna and L. L. Bettis deeded a lot in this block to the congregation in 1883. The following year a 40' X 60' meetinghouse was erected. In 1898, during the ministry of the Rev. J. T. Stanton, the congregation adopted the name "Green Avenue Baptist Church". This membership merged in 1909 with the eighth street baptist church to become "The first Baptist Church of Orange". Under the leadership of the Rev. J. Stuart Pearce, more land was acquired in 1913 and this brick sanctuary was in use by 1915. J. G. McMullen gave additional property for a new education building in 1939. As the congregation grew under the pastorate of Dr. Cooper Waters, additional land was purchased, and a second education building was constructed in 1952. The Viola McCorquodale building and fellowship hall were erected in 1958. This fellowship has helped establish the following Baptist churches: Cove, Little Cypress, Brownwood, Riverside, and Maplecrest.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1879 with eighteen charter members meeting in the frame Orange County courthouse, this congregation grew through the fellowship of missionary preachers and the gift of land from local families. Adopting the name Green Avenue Baptist Church in 1898, it merged with another congregation in 1909 to become the First Baptist Church of Orange, dedicating its brick sanctuary by 1915. Over the decades it helped plant a constellation of daughter churches across the region.
Why it matters
The church's steady growth and church-planting mission reflect the central role of Baptist congregations in knitting together the fast-growing communities of Southeast Texas.
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Related people
- ¡ Andrew Peddy
- ¡ J. Stuart Pearce
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
John Harmon
Orange, TX
Born in Louisiana in 1790 and a veteran of the War of 1812, John Harmon moved his family west in search of new land, settling along the Sabine River by 1826. In an extraordinary feat of frontier determination, he lashed together a massive raft of cypress logs to ferry his house, wagon, oxen, livestock, tools, and family to the site of present-day Orange on New Year's Day 1828. His arrival marked the beginning of permanent settlement there, and he went on to work as a saddler and civic leader.
George Alexander Pattillo
Orange, TX
A War of 1812 veteran born in Georgia in 1796, George Alexander Pattillo migrated to southeast Texas in the early 1830s and threw himself into the region's revolutionary politics, serving on a Committee of Correspondence and the provisional government's General Council. He aided the Texas Army during the 1836 revolution, arriving at San Jacinto the day after the battle, and was tasked by President David G. Burnet with organizing Jefferson County. He later served in the Republic of Texas Congress, championed annexation, and became Orange County's first judge in 1852.
John Thomas Stark
Orange, TX
Born in Ohio in 1821, John T. Stark came to East Texas in 1840 and settled in Newton County, where he read law and kept a mercantile store. He enlisted as a private in the Texas infantry for the Confederacy in 1861 and rose to captain, and after the war moved to Orange to practice law and serve a term as county judge. His three marriages produced eighteen children before his death in 1893.
Charles Holmes Saxon
Orange, TX
Born in Mississippi around 1820, Charles Holmes Saxon came to Texas in 1842 and, after serving in the Mexican War, helped organize Orange County in 1852, sitting on its first commissioners court and later serving as sheriff. He farmed, made shingles, and rode into the Civil War, seeing action across Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana before dying in 1919 at nearly a century old.