First Baptist Church of Winona
Winona, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in 1849 by Pastor William H. Ray and 15 charter members, this church was originally called Harris Creek Baptist Church. The congregation met once a month in members' homes until a pine log church building was erected in 1850. A new sanctuary was constructed in 1855 about a mile from Winona. In 1858 the church established a cemetery west of the church building, later used as a community graveyard. African Americans were members of this church until Emancipation, but buried their dead in a separate section of the cemetery. A cyclone destroyed the sanctuary in 1878, but members rebuilt that year. In 1900 the church relocated to Winona, and in 1916 began holding services twice a month. A two-story brick church building was erected in 1927, and in 1929 the congregation changed its name to Winona Baptist Church. In 1941 the church voted to hold services full time, and in 1947 changed its name to the First Baptist Church of Winona. A centennial celebration was held in 1949. A larger facility was built in 1980, and additions were erected in 1987. The congregation offers traditional programs to its members and continues to support a variety of community outreach activities. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1849 as Harris Creek Baptist Church by Pastor William H. Ray and fifteen charter members, this East Texas congregation met in members' homes before raising a pine-log meetinghouse in 1850. Its cemetery, begun in 1858, held both white and—in a separate section—African American members, who belonged to the church until Emancipation. Surviving a cyclone, relocations, and repeated name changes, it became the First Baptist Church of Winona in 1947.
Why it matters
The congregation's history, including its segregated burials, quietly records how slavery and Emancipation shaped even the religious life of antebellum Texas.
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Related people
- · William H. Ray
Related events
- · Emancipation
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Harris Creek Cemetery
Winona, TX
Harris Creek Baptist Church took root in 1849 in the Mount Carmel community of East Texas, moving to this higher ground in 1852 after floods drove it from Lott's Spring. Its meetinghouse doubled as a schoolhouse, and Anglo settlers and the people they enslaved worshipped in the same building while seated apart. The adjoining cemetery, in use since at least 1857, holds several hundred graves and veterans of every war from 1812 to Vietnam.
Jarvis Christian College
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