First Baptist Church of Palacios
Palacios, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. William H. Travis formed a school and Missionary Baptist church in Palacios in 1905. That year, the congregation became known as First Baptist Church. In 1906, the Texas Baptist Convention chose Palacios as the site for its Baptist Training Union Encampment, bringing missionaries and teachers into the community each year. At the corner of Welch and Second Street in 1909, the church built a sanctuary, having worshiped previously in homes and at the encampment tabernacle. The congregation grew over the next decades, moving in the 1970s to a larger building at this site, where it has continued to grow and serve its community. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1905 by the Rev. William H. Travis, First Baptist Church of Palacios began as both a school and a Missionary Baptist congregation in the young 'City by the Sea.' The next year the Texas Baptist Convention made Palacios its annual Training Union Encampment site, drawing missionaries and teachers to the coastal town each summer. From homes and the encampment tabernacle the congregation moved into its own 1909 sanctuary and, decades later, to its present campus.
Why it matters
The church shows how faith, education, and seasonal religious encampments knit together a new Gulf Coast railroad town in the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · Rev. William H. Travis
Related events
- · Texas Baptist Training Union Encampment
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Palacios Preparatory School
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