Old First Baptist Church
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized September 1889 by 16 charter members. In 1890 built this meeting house at 500 Pierce. First belfry consisted of cedar posts. Baptistry was filled by water buckets, while hot rocks warmed it in wintertime. Ladies Aid Society members included Mrs. B.T. Ware, whose horse stopped so automatically at some homes that he was known as "John the Baptist". Building moved and restored, then rededicated during Diamond Jubilee, May 1964. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1964.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1889 by sixteen charter members, this was among the first churches in the raw new Panhandle town of Amarillo. The 1890 meeting house was frontier improvisation at its most vivid: a belfry of cedar posts, a baptistry filled by hand with water buckets and warmed by hot rocks in winter, and a Ladies Aid member whose horse knew the route so well it earned the nickname "John the Baptist." The restored building was rededicated during a Diamond Jubilee in 1964.
Why it matters
The congregation captures the improvised, hopeful character of church-building on the late-nineteenth-century High Plains frontier.
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Themes & tags
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