First Baptist Church of Temple
Temple, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally known as Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, this congregation was organized on November 21, 1874, in the small Bell County town of Birdsdale (about one mile west of present Temple). The Rev. Anderson Clark (1829-1925) became the church's first pastor, leading a charter membership of twenty people. A small sanctuary was built on land donated by A.J. Flakes, but was destroyed by a tornado two years after its construction. Following the creation of the city of Temple in 1881, the members of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church voted to move to the new town and rename their congregation First Baptist Church of Temple. A frame church was built on the corner of North Main Street and Barton Avenue in 1882. It was replaced with a brick and stone structure in 1895. After the 1895 building was destroyed in a 1938 fire, the congregation relocated to this site and built a new sanctuary that same year. Additional buildings have been added over the years to serve the growing needs of the congregation. Instrumental in local missionary activities, this church has served the community for over 100 years. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1874 as Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in the tiny Bell County settlement of Birdsdale, this congregation lost its first sanctuary to a tornado before following its members to the new railroad town of Temple, where it took its present name in 1881. Frame, then brick-and-stone buildings followed, and after an 1895 sanctuary burned in 1938 the church relocated to this site the same year. Active in local missionary work, it has served the community for well over a century.
Why it matters
The congregation's repeated rebuildings after tornado and fire, and its move to follow the railroad, mirror the resilience and mobility of Central Texas communities in their formative decades.
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Related people
- · Anderson Clark
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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