Latexo Baptist Church
Latexo, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Stark Switch, originally known as Oldham, was the home of Protestant worship for early settlers from the mid-19th century. Stark Switch Baptist Church of Christ was organized on July 19, 1900, with 27 charter members. The Louisiana Texas Orchard Company became the community's major employer in the early 1900s. The community name changed to Latexo in the company's honor, and the Baptist church name changed to Latexo Baptist Church in 1905. The congregation moved into the local schoolhouse in 1905 and purchased the building from the county in 1912. After 1930 the community gradually moved east with the new main highway, and Latexo Baptist Church followed in 1945. The church thrived in its new location, building new facilities to meet the needs of its members and programs. Celebrating a century of service in the year 2000, the church continues in the traditions of its founders. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The congregation that became Latexo Baptist Church was organized in 1900 as the Stark Switch Baptist Church, in a community first known as Oldham. When the Louisiana Texas Orchard Company became the area's major employer, the town renamed itself Latexo in the company's honor, and the church followed suit in 1905. As settlement shifted east toward a new highway after 1930, the church relocated in 1945 and has thrived there, marking a century of service in 2000.
Why it matters
The church's story tracks how railroads, industry, and highways repeatedly reshaped small East Texas communities—and how a congregation held a scattering settlement together through it all.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Town of Latexo
Latexo, TX
This East Texas town began as Oldham, was renamed Starks' Switch when the International & Great Northern Railroad laid a sidetrack in 1872 to serve a nearby sawmill, and became Latexo when a Louisiana land company platted 3,000 acres of fruit land and a townsite in 1907. After logging stripped the timber, settlers turned to fruit and cotton, and around 1915 Latexo became the first Houston County school to teach agriculture. The town incorporated in 1979 and added civic buildings through the 1980s.
Rudd Crawford Spinks
Crockett, TX
A native Texan, Rudd Crawford Spinks came to Houston County in 1878 and built a wide-ranging life there. From a jewelry and music store in Crockett he branched into farming, freighting, cotton ginning, sawmilling, and land ownership, and he built several area homes and bred registered livestock. Father of six sons, he was also known for outspoken commentary on the government and politicians of his day.
William Kyle McLean
Crockett, TX
Descended from the area's first permanent settlers, William Kyle McLean spent his life advancing the farms and pastures of Houston County and East Texas. He won national recognition and numerous soil-conservation awards for introducing coastal Bermuda grass locally, seeding his pastures with crimson and white Dutch clover, and using bees to pollinate his clover crop. His work reflects the mid-twentieth-century push to modernize Southern agriculture through science and conservation.
John Gordon Beasley
Crockett, TX
John Gordon "Big Jack" Beasley, Sr. helped shape Crockett in the first half of the 20th century, organizing the Davy Crockett Federal Savings and Loan in 1928 and serving as mayor from 1936 to 1940. His term coincided with the city's centennial and brought paved, lighted streets and the Davy Crockett Memorial Building and Park. He was a fixture of local business and civic life in this East Texas town.