Primera Baptist Church
Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On March 1, 1903, Primera Iglesia Bautista organized as the culmination of mission work carried out by Primera Iglesia Bautista of Welder. By 1907, the congregation constructed their first church building, led by the Rev. Paul C. Bell, the growing membership was active in the community, opening a primary and secondary school for the area's unschooled Hispanic children (1920), an orphanage (1920), and a Baptist Bible Institute (1924). Some of the orphans and students later became ministers and missionaries. The congregation moved to a new building in 1928. Members have since continued to minister to English and Spanish-speaking residents of the area. Today Primera Baptist Church remains a beacon of light in the Bastrop community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1903 out of mission work by Welder's Primera Iglesia Bautista, this Spanish-speaking Baptist congregation quickly became a pillar of Hispanic life in Bastrop. Under the Rev. Paul C. Bell it built its first sanctuary by 1907 and, by the 1920s, opened a primary and secondary school for the area's unschooled Hispanic children, an orphanage, and a Baptist Bible Institute. Some of those orphans and students went on to become ministers and missionaries themselves.
Why it matters
It reflects how immigrant and Mexican-American communities in early-20th-century Texas built their own churches, schools, and social services when the wider society offered them little.
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Related people
- · Rev. Paul C. Bell
Themes & tags
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