Palestine Missionary Baptist Church
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Twenty-one former slaves gathered together at the corner of Convent and Depot streets on June 27, 1868, and formally organized the First Colored Baptist Church in Victoria County. It was renamed Palestine Missionary Baptist Church on September 11, 1868. That same month property was conveyed for the town's first freedmen's school, named Brauns Colored School. Early Baptist worship services were held in Brauns school and at Frazier Colored Methodist School at the corner of Convent and River Streets. Under the leadership of the Rev. Mitchell Harrison, the members of Palestine Missionary Baptist Church built their first sanctuary between 1871 and 1873. It was replaced in 1886 with a larger structure built on the corner of Convent and Navarro Streets. A new brick church building was erected at the corner of Convent and Depot streets in 1953. Throughout its history, this church has maintained programs with an emphasis on educational, social, civic, and missionary responsibilities. Members of the church have played an important role in community activities, and over the years four additional congregations were formed from the Palestine Missionary Baptist Church fellowship. (1991)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On June 27, 1868, twenty-one former slaves gathered at Convent and Depot streets to organize the first Black Baptist church in Victoria County, soon renamed Palestine Missionary Baptist Church. That same month, land nearby was conveyed for the town's first freedmen's school, and early worship shared space with those schools for the newly free. Under the Rev. Mitchell Harrison the congregation built its first sanctuary in the early 1870s, growing through successive buildings and spinning off four more congregations.
Why it matters
Founded within years of emancipation, the church embodies how freedpeople built enduring institutions of worship and education at the very dawn of their freedom.
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Related people
- · Mitchell Harrison
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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