First Baptist Church of Texas City
Texas City, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On March 16, 1905, five Texas City residents met for worship and Bible study. The Rev. D.L. Griffith assisted them in founding Texas City's First Baptist Church. The Rev. W.C. Ponder served as pastor for the first decade, during which time services were held in private homes. The growing congregation met at different sites until the early 1950s, when it built a sanctuary at this site. During its first 100 years, the congregation endured the 1915 hurricane, the Great Depression and the 1947 Texas City disaster. Through hardships and hard work the church persevered, and today it continues in service to its community through a variety of programs and missions. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On March 16, 1905, five residents of the young port town of Texas City gathered for worship and, with the Rev. D.L. Griffith's help, founded First Baptist Church, meeting in private homes for its first decade. As the congregation grew it weathered the great 1915 hurricane, the Depression, and the catastrophic 1947 Texas City disaster before building its sanctuary here in the early 1950s. Through a century of hardship on the Gulf Coast, the church kept its doors open in service to the community.
Why it matters
The congregation's endurance mirrors the resilience of a Gulf Coast industrial city repeatedly tested by storm and disaster, including one of the deadliest industrial accidents in American history.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · D.L. Griffith
- · W.C. Ponder
Related events
- · 1947 Texas City disaster
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Stringfellow Orchards
Hitchcock, TX
In 1883, horticulturist Henry Martyn Stringfellow established an experimental garden and orchard here on the Texas coastal plain. His 1890 treatise on innovative organic growing methods drew a wide following among fruit and vegetable growers in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Silver medals at two world's fairs and further publications cemented his standing as one of his era's leading experimental horticulturists.
Site of Clifton-by-the-Sea
Bacliff, TX
Established in 1910 by landowners G. C. Perkins and W. Y. Fuqua, Clifton-by-the-Sea was a bayside resort that rose as prosperity returned to Galveston County after the catastrophic 1900 storm. Reached by the rail line along Galveston Bay's western shore, it offered a hotel, summer homes, and a pier-mounted bathhouse and pavilion that hosted dances with Houston and Galveston orchestras. Hurricanes repeatedly wrecked the resort until a 1943 storm ended it for good; after World War II the area became home to petrochemical workers and, in 1948, took the name Bacliff.
Isaiah P. Walker House
Shoreacres, TX
In the boom of weekend "fish camps" that made Shoreacres a Galveston Bay retreat for Houston families, furniture executive Isaiah P. Walker and his wife Annie bought a lot in 1928 and completed their home in 1932. Nicknamed the "Little Castle," its rough-cut stone facade and a turret enclosing a spiral staircase gave it a fortress-like look, and four concrete "faux bois" pine columns—in the rustic style popularized by Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez—frame the porch. It is the oldest surviving fish-camp residence in Shoreacres.
Pearland and The Santa Fe Railroad
Pearland, TX
Pearland began with a railroad siding called 'Mark Belt,' laid by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe in 1883. A decade later William Zychlinski platted a townsite here, and developer S.M. Christensen planted pear and fruit trees to lure settlers—giving the town its name. A 1900 depot became the community's hub for mail, supplies, and shipping cotton, hay, and produce, and though the great 1900 storm slowed things, promotion of the area as an agricultural paradise fueled its growth before the depot finally closed in 1972.