First Baptist Church of Port Lavaca
Port Lavaca, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1854 as the Lavaca Baptist Church, this congregation developed from area missionary efforts that began in the 1830s. The original church leaders were: Elder J. M. B. Haynie, pastor; Ammon Burr, clerk; and John Slater and Charles Ives, deacons. Despite early hardships such as the Civil War, hurricanes, and a yellow fever epidemic, the Baptists continued their worship services and in 1913 were chartered by the state as the First Baptist Church of Port Lavaca. Active in the formation of several area congregations, the church has played an active role in the development of the town. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation grew out of missionary work that began in the 1830s and was organized in 1854 as the Lavaca Baptist Church, led by Elder J.M.B. Haynie and a handful of deacons. Through the hardships of the Civil War, coastal hurricanes, and a yellow fever epidemic, the Baptists kept up their worship, and the state chartered the body as the First Baptist Church of Port Lavaca in 1913. The church helped found other area congregations and played an active role in the town's growth.
Why it matters
The endurance of a frontier coastal congregation through war and disaster illustrates the role of faith communities in stabilizing and building early Texas towns.
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Related people
- · J. M. B. Haynie
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Empresario Henri Castro contracted in 1842 to bring European colonists to Texas, and the first—mostly German-speaking Alsatians—arrived through Galveston in 1843 before sailing on to Lavaca, later Port Lavaca. From there they set out overland to Medina County to found Castroville, though many succumbed to coastal fevers along the way. Ships continued through 1846, and by the time Castro's contract expired in 1847 he had carried more than 2,000 colonists to Texas, most of them through Lavaca Bay.
Ranger Cemetery
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The oldest grave here belongs to Major H. Oram Watts, the Linnville customs collector killed in the great Comanche raid on that coastal settlement in August 1840. The site took its name after the 1850 burial of Margaret Lytle, wife of James T. Lytle, remembered as the "poet" of the Texas Rangers; during a Civil War epidemic a nearby house served as a hospital, and at least ten Federal soldiers who died were buried here. Members of the five families who owned the land also rest in Ranger Cemetery.
First Presbyterian Church of Port Lavaca
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Legend has it that Port Lavaca's first Presbyterian service was held in a saloon in 1848, before eleven charter members gathered with the Rev. A. Stephen F. Cocke in a shared warehouse that also served the Methodists and the school. The congregation built its first church in 1849, weathered the destruction of its building in the 1886 storm, disbanded, and reorganized in 1909, dedicating a modern home in 1956.
First United Methodist Church of Port Lavaca
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