First Baptist Church of Rice
Rice, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On Feb. 21, 1875, three years after a rail line was built to the area, a group of local residents met to organize this congregation. Early worship services were conducted in the community schoolhouse. In 1894 a sanctuary was constructed at this site on land acquired from Rice Institute, a Houston organization founded by railroadman William Marsh Rice, for whom this town was named. For over a century, the First Baptist Church has led in the development of the area. Its role in the community continues to reflect the ideals of its pioneer founders. (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation organized in February 1875, just a few years after a rail line reached the area and drew settlers to what became the town of Rice. Early worshippers gathered in the community schoolhouse before building a sanctuary in 1894 on land acquired from an organization founded by railroad magnate William Marsh Rice, the town's namesake. For well over a century the church has remained a fixture of local life.
Why it matters
The church shows how faith communities took shape alongside the railroads that summoned new Texas towns into being, binding scattered newcomers into a settled society.
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Related people
- · William Marsh Rice
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Haynie Memorial Methodist Church
Rice, TX
Founded in 1874 by the Rev. William Vaughn, this Methodist congregation grew alongside the little Navarro County town of Rice, on land donated by W. M. Rice—the Houston & Texas Central Railroad official whose fortune would later endow Rice University. The present sanctuary went up in 1908, named for steward W. D. Haynie, and was dedicated the following year. It stands as a record of how railroads, land gifts, and faith communities knit together the rural towns of Reconstruction-era Texas.
The Fortson Family
Rice, TX
The Fortson family came from Mississippi to Navarro County in the 1840s, and Civil War veteran James T. Fortson married into another pioneer family before settling near Rice. His son Joe B. and brother John built up large farming and ranching holdings and became local pillars—running a cotton gin and mercantile, founding the First State Bank of Rice, and organizing levee districts to aid area farmers. Joe B. also served on the school board, and the family's home was built at this site in 1904.
Alma
Alma, TX
Settlers reached this stretch of Ellis County as early as 1848, but the town of Alma was truly born in 1871 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad laid track through the county. Landowner C.C. Hemming gave part of his property for the right-of-way and named the new town for his daughter. A busy farming center for decades, Alma faded after the 1950s when Interstate 45 was cut straight through its heart.
Chatfield United Methodist Church
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Methodism took root in this Navarro County community in 1846, when the Rev. J. E. Ferguson — whose son would one day govern Texas — preached to local believers. Chatfield's founder Robert Hodge built a brush arbor for camp meetings at his spring and later donated a lodge hall where worshippers of every faith gathered for years. Not until 1886 did the Methodists receive their own site; the congregation peaked in 1896, and after a storm destroyed the original building in 1937, the present church rose the following year.