First Baptist Church of Waco
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in 1851 by the Rev. Noah Byars and charter members, the First Baptist Church of Waco worshipped in the meetinghouse of the First Methodist Church until their own sanctuary was built at fourth and Mary Streets in 1857. It was destroyed by fire in 1877 and was replaced by a larger building. The present house of worship was erected on this site in 1907. Historic figures affiliated with First Baptist Church have included five generals of the Confederacy, former Governor of Texas Pat M. Neff, and Dr. B.H. Carroll, pastor from 1871 to 1899 and later founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Dr. J.M. Dawson, pastor from 1915 to 1946, resigned to become the first executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Washington, D.C. From 1886, when Baylor University moved to Waco from Independence, Texas, the university and First Baptist Church have enjoyed close association. Every Baylor president since 1886 has maintained active membership here. Many of the faculty, administration, and student body of Baylor University traditionally have provided vital links in the fellowship. Several Baptist churches in Waco owe their origins to former members of this congregation.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1851 by the Rev. Noah Byars and a small band of charter members, this congregation first borrowed the Methodist meetinghouse before building its own sanctuary in 1857. Fire, growth, and time brought successive buildings, culminating in the present house of worship raised in 1907. The church became deeply entwined with Baylor University after the school moved to Waco in 1886, with every Baylor president since keeping membership here, and it counted among its leaders B.H. Carroll, founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Why it matters
Its story is inseparable from the rise of Baptist higher education in Texas, showing how a single frontier congregation could anchor a university and shape religious life across the state.
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Related people
- · Noah Byars
- · B.H. Carroll
- · Pat M. Neff
- · J.M. Dawson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Waco University
Waco, TX
In 1861 Dr. Rufus C. Burleson (1823–1901) left the presidency of Baylor University at Independence to lead the Waco Classical School, founded in 1856 by the Rev. Solomon G. O'Bryan as the Trinity River Male High School. Renamed Waco University that same year, it grew under Burleson's tireless 25-year leadership into a leading Baptist college, topping 400 students by the early 1880s. In 1886 the Waco and Independence institutions merged to form Baylor University at Waco.
Brann-Davis Shootings
Waco, TX
In 1890s Waco, the acid-tongued writer William Cowper Brann skewered institutions — Baptists and Baylor University above all — in his wildly popular magazine, The Iconoclast, splitting the city into armed factions. The feud produced a fatal 1897 duel and, in 1898, a shootout on this spot: Baylor partisan Tom E. Davis shot Brann, who returned fire, and both men died of their wounds. It was one of the deadliest episodes of American frontier journalism.
Gerald-Harris Shooting
Waco, TX
In November 1897 a feud over the printed word turned deadly near this Waco intersection. Newspaper editor James W. Harris and Judge George Bruce Gerald clashed over Gerald's defense of William Cowper Brann's fiery magazine The Iconoclast, which attacked Baptists and Baylor University. After a fistfight and a handbill branding Harris a coward, a challenge led to a street pistol battle that killed the Harris brothers and wounded the judge, who was reelected three years later.
Site of First Church Building in Waco
Waco, TX
Around 1850, when Waco was a rough young settlement on the Brazos, worshipers reportedly crowded into a log house to hear the itinerant Methodist preacher Joseph P. Sneed — the beginning, by local tradition, of the town's first congregation. Over more than a century that flock moved through a frame chapel, a brick church, and the halls of Waco Female College before settling into ever-grander sanctuaries. Known affectionately as the "Mother Church," it traced the growth of Waco itself from log cabins to a thriving Texas city.