First Baptist Church of Port Neches
Port Neches, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This Baptist church, the first in Port Neches, organized in October of 1910. Twelve charter members held Baptist services in a one-room schoolhouse. These church founders were Mr. & Mrs. John Livingston, Mr. Horace Livingston, Mr. & Mrs. R.E. Rachford, Mr. & Mrs. D.A. Bibbs, Mr. & Mrs. Gillie Peveto, Mr. Arthur K. Peveto, Mrs. Abbie Block and Mr. Ollie Williams. In 1914, Mrs. R.E. Rachford donated property at the corner of Dearing Street and Avenue B for the construction of the church’s first building, which was completed in 1917. W.H. Fortney became the church’s first full-time pastor in 1918, and during his tenure, the frame building was removed from the property to make way for a newer, larger brick sanctuary that was completed in 1927. A devastating fire destroyed the 1927 structure on January 10, 1940, and all early church records were lost. A replacement frame building was constructed on the site in 1941, but the congregation voted to purchase property on Magnolia Avenue in 1946; services were first held at the new location in June, 1957. Church programs include sunday school, vacation bible school, youth activities and bible study. Expansion and renovations to the church plant have allowed the church to continue its mission in the community. Adult and student mission trips, sponsorship of Woodcrest Mission (1969-1983), and support of new churches are part of the mission emphasis of the church. Today, First Baptist Church of Port Neches continues to serve as a spiritual and social beacon to its congregants and to others in Port Neches and surrounding areas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
First Baptist Church of Port Neches began in October 1910 when twelve charter members gathered for services in a one-room schoolhouse. Over the following decades the congregation built and rebuilt its home—a 1917 frame church, a 1927 brick sanctuary lost to fire in 1940, and finally a new campus on Magnolia Avenue—while sustaining Sunday school, youth programs, and mission work. Through fire and relocation, the church remained a spiritual and social anchor for this Gulf Coast town.
Why it matters
The church's story mirrors how faith congregations helped knit together the fast-growing oil and industrial communities of Southeast Texas in the twentieth century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
Nederland, TX
This congregation traces its roots to two Presbyterian churches organized in Port Arthur at the dawn of the twentieth century, the first in 1900 and a second in 1924. As both grew and relocated, a church rose on this site in 1966, and in 1979 the two congregations merged into the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Across the decades the community sustained a tradition of worship, religious education, and service.
The Hughen School
Port Arthur, TX
Growing out of a 1930s vision by Port Arthur's Rotary Club, the Hughen School opened in 1937 to educate and rehabilitate children with disabilities, first inside St. Mary's Hospital and soon in its own building here. Named for benefactors Thomas W. and Juliet Hughen, it added physical, occupational, and speech therapy and helped win passage of the Texas education act of 1945 that expanded special education statewide. A Bob Hope telethon later raised $1.2 million for a high school on the campus, named for the entertainer.
South Park High School
Beaumont, TX
Built in 1922–1923 by the South Park Independent School District, this Beaumont building served as a high school and, for a decade, housed South Park Junior College. That college was renamed Lamar Junior College in 1932, moved to its own campus in 1942, and eventually became Lamar University in 1971. South Park High School remained here until 1986, when it merged with West Brook High School and the building became a junior high.
Port Arthur College
Port Arthur, TX
Steel magnate John W. Gates—a founder of the Texas Company (Texaco)—launched Port Arthur College in 1909 as a memorial to his mother, envisioning a vocational school to feed the region's booming industries with stenographers, accountants, and bilingual clerks for Panama Canal-era trade. Briefly run by the Methodist Episcopal Church as a collegiate institute, it grew into an accredited commercial school whose communications program advanced from wireless telegraphy to radio and television. During World War II it trained some 1,500 Army Signal Corps operators, and in 1975 it became part of the Lamar system, today's Lamar State College–Port Arthur.