First Baptist Church of Silsbee
Silsbee, Hardin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1903, this congregation first worshiped in a railroad car in the newly developed rail and sawmill town of Silsbee. Twelve charter members officially organized Central Baptist Church in 1908 at a meeting in the Masonic Lodge Hall. Fred Haney, Ed Roper and Dr. W. H. Mcneil left Silsbee Baptist Church in 1910 to become Central Baptist’s first deacons. Following a revival the same year, developer and timber Baron John Henry Kirby donated land and lumber for the first church building on North 4th street. Brother Growe, the first called pastor, served about two years. The growing congregation built a new church at 5th Street and Avenue G after 1923. The 1940s pastorate of Brother C. B. Bass saw significant developments, including: organizing the brotherhood in Jan. 1944; changing the name of the church to First Baptist Church of Silsbee; calling the first education and music director, Brother Coleman Young; and acquiring the old football field as a future church site. Brother R. E. Barclay, who served nearly 30 years, was called to be pastor in Sep. 1950. In 1954, the church moved to a new sanctuary on this site, with over 800 attending the first Sunday school in the new building. Both Good Shepherd (1947) and Pinecrest (1965) Baptist Churches were missions sponsored by First Baptist Church. The church has also financially supported missionaries in the U. S. and abroad. The “Barclay wing” was dedicated as additional education space in 1978. A new sanctuary was dedicated in Feb. 1999 with a special worship service in which renovations were dedicated to be used for God’s glory. Hurricanes Rita (2005) and Ike (2008) extensively damaged church facilities, but repairs were made each time. For more than a century, the church has been a beacon of light in the community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
First Baptist Church of Silsbee began in 1903 in a most fitting place for a booming East Texas rail-and-sawmill town: a railroad car. Formally organized in 1908, the congregation soon gained land and lumber from timber baron John Henry Kirby and grew alongside the community, weathering name changes, new sanctuaries, and even hurricanes Rita and Ike. For more than a century it has remained a fixture of Silsbee life.
Why it matters
Its story mirrors the rise of the Piney Woods timber towns, where railroads, sawmills, and churches built new communities across turn-of-the-century East Texas.
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Related people
- · John Henry Kirby
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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