Mt. Sinai Baptist Church
Port Lavaca, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized at Indianola (14 miles SE) in 1870, this church is one of the oldest black fellowships in Calhoun County. The first pastor was the Rev. Joseph Whitlock, an elder in the white Baptist congregation of the city. Several members of this church moved to Port Lavaca in 1875 after a hurricane destroyed the Indianola sanctuary. The remainder of the congregation joined them in 1886 following a second major storm. Known here originally as the Second Baptist Church, the members adopted the present name in 1905, during the 25-year pastorate of the Rev. A. K. Black. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized at the port of Indianola in 1870, this is one of the oldest Black congregations in Calhoun County, first led by the Rev. Joseph Whitlock. Two devastating hurricanes—in 1875 and 1886—drove the members from ruined Indianola to Port Lavaca, where they carried their church with them. Known first as Second Baptist, it took the name Mt. Sinai in 1905 during the long pastorate of the Rev. A. K. Black.
Why it matters
Founded in the first years of freedom, this church shows how African American communities built enduring institutions of their own—and rebuilt them again after disaster—during Reconstruction and beyond.
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Related people
- · Joseph Whitlock
- · A. K. Black
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Sgt. William Henry Barnes
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William Henry Barnes enlisted in the Union Army in early 1864, joining the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. That September he was wounded storming the Confederate works at the Battle of New Market Heights in Virginia—valor that earned him the Medal of Honor. Promoted to sergeant and posted to the Texas border, he died of consumption in 1866 and was ultimately reinterred in the San Antonio National Cemetery.