First Baptist Church of Shamrock
Shamrock, Wheeler County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1904 by the Rev. E. A. Oller, this was the second church established in Shamrock. Charter members included Martha Anderson, A. N. Holmes, Mrs. Kaffir, Mrs. Betty McGreggor, and J. M. Woodley. First meeting place was the local schoolhouse. In 1906, the congregation called its first regular pastor, the Rev. J. W. Slaton, and bought property for building at Sixth and Wall. The Sunday School was started and church structure completed in 1907. In 1922 membership reached 248. On March 13 of that year, the original church building was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. After using a theater and the Methodist building, the Baptists bought this Main Street site, put up a temporary tabernacle, and completed a new church in 1926. A parsonage was built on the lot at Sixth and Wall. A third sanctuary was erected and dedicated in1973. Pastors succeeding the Rev. J. W. Slaton have been the Revs. H. G. Finley, R. F. Hamilton, H. A. Goodwin, H. C. Slaughter, J. Wood Arnspiger, James E. McClurkin, John R. Rice, C. A. Baxter, E. T. Smith, Vernie Pipes, E. C. Derr (two calls), Clifton Tennison, James O. Todd, J. Ed Byers, Meredith Wyatt, Jimmy Wilson, James Coffman, Murle Rogers, and Jim Scott. (1977)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1904 as only the second congregation in the young railroad town of Shamrock, this Baptist church began in the local schoolhouse before buying its own lot and completing a building in 1907. Lightning and fire leveled that first sanctuary in 1922, but the congregation regrouped through a theater, a borrowed Methodist building, and a canvas tabernacle to rebuild by 1926.
Why it matters
Small-town churches like this one were the social spine of newly settled Panhandle communities, binding scattered homesteaders into a town even as fire and hardship tested their resolve.
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Related people
- · E. A. Oller
- · J. W. Slaton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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