Masonic Lodge Hall and First Baptist Church
Kildare, Cass County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of the first buildings constructed in Kildare; now the oldest existing one n town. Erected jointly 1878 by the Baptist Church and Jim's Bayou Lodge # 491 A.F. & A.M. Builders were Skillman and Bricker. In continuous use since 1878, structure is of heart cypress, selected for extreme durability. Although church moved in 1950's, building still serves as Lodge Hall and recreation facility. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 169
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Erected jointly in 1878 by the Baptist congregation and Jim's Bayou Masonic Lodge No. 491, this heart-cypress building is the oldest surviving structure in the small East Texas town of Kildare. Built by local craftsmen Skillman and Bricker, it was framed in cypress chosen for its extreme durability—a choice proven by its continuous use ever since. Though the church relocated in the 1950s, the building still serves as a lodge hall and community space.
Why it matters
The shared church-and-lodge hall reflects how frontier East Texas towns pooled resources, blending faith and fraternal life under one durable roof to build community.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Kildare Cemetery
Cass County, TX
As the Kildare area was settled, the Moor family — local plantation owners — donated the land that became this cemetery, with its earliest dated burial that of Risdon Moor in 1868. A later gift of ground in 1937 and an association formed in 1982 expanded and maintained the site. Since 1980 a Kildare Memorial Day ceremony has honored the veterans buried in this plantation-and-timber corner of Cass County.
Mount Zion Baptist Church of Christ
Linden, TX
Organized in 1851 with twelve charter members, the Mount Zion congregation first gathered in a log building. In 1885, on land donated by Isaac and Felix Grundy Lemmon, they raised the cypress sanctuary that still stands—its steeply pitched roof and double entry doors typical of plain rural Texas churches of the age. A cemetery dating to 1864 lies alongside.
Savannah Cemetery
Jefferson, TX
This burial ground began as the family plot of Sofia Smith Whatley, a South Carolina native who moved from Alabama to Marion County after her husband died in 1875 to join sons already settled here. Established on the land of her son James—who also deeded property for a public school—it holds a Poe family infant's 1884 grave as its oldest. Once called the Whatley Cemetery, it took the name Savannah after the second wife of Miles Whatley and gradually became a community cemetery, with Civil War veterans among those laid to rest.
Cass County Courthouse
Linden, TX
When Cass County was organized in 1846, its court met in Jefferson, but Linden became the seat in 1852 and got a frame courthouse the next year. The present brick structure was begun in 1860 and, delayed by the Civil War, was not finished until after 1865; it was enlarged twice and gained a third floor after a 1933 fire. The courthouse also marks the early careers of U.S. Congressman Wright Patman and Texas Supreme Court Justice Ralph Hicks Harvey.