Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church
Rusk County, Rusk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Captain Robert W. Smith (1814-51), a veteran of the Texas Revolution, donated land at this site in 1845 for use by a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The first building here, a log chapel, was also used for school classes. In 1856 the property was traded to a congregation of Baptists from the nearby community of London (4 mi. NW). Organized that year as Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, the fellowship has continued to worship here. The church and adjacent cemetery were legally separated in 1953 by court decree.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1845, Texas Revolution veteran Captain Robert W. Smith donated this land for a Cumberland Presbyterian church, whose first log chapel doubled as a schoolhouse. In 1856 the property passed to a group of Baptists from the nearby community of London, who organized Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church that year and have worshiped here ever since. The church and its adjacent cemetery were formally separated by court decree in 1953.
Why it matters
Its founding shows how the earliest East Texas settlers wove together church, school, and burial ground as the shared institutions of frontier community life.
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Related people
- · Robert W. Smith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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