Providence Baptist Church
Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized 1841 in Republic of Texas by James A. Prewitt, first deacon. Until calling of pastor, 32 members met 3 or 4 times a year, with planters from Brazos bottoms and their households (including slaves) in attendance. By 1875 this was one of most influential churches in area, known for its 2-weeks brush arbor or tabernacle meetings. It has had 25 pastors. Original church was of split logs. Present building is the fourth. Centennial observance in 1941 was attended by the Lieutenant Governor and other officials.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Providence Baptist Church was organized in 1841 in the Republic of Texas, gathering Brazos-bottom planters and their households — including enslaved people — a few times a year until a pastor could be called. By 1875 it was among the most influential churches in the area, famed for its weeks-long brush-arbor revival meetings.
Why it matters
The congregation's history opens a window onto frontier religion in the Republic of Texas and the enslaved people bound within it.
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Related people
- · James A. Prewitt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Providence Cemetery
Caldwell, TX
Providence Cemetery has served this rural community since at least the 1830s, its oldest marked grave dating to 1841 though unmarked burials point to even earlier use. Among its more than 600 graves lie pioneer farmers, enslaved people, and veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars.
Fort Oldham
Cooks Point, TX
Fort Oldham was raised in 1836–37 by pioneers who sheltered with William Oldham, an infantry major in the Texas War for Independence. In seasons of Native raids dozens lived within its walls, and by 1838 it had a post office and stood on the Independence–Tenoxtitlan Road; Oldham himself later rode with the Somervell and Mier Expeditions, was captured by Mexican forces, and escaped to make his way home.
Brazos Bottom Baptist Church Cemetery
Snook, TX
Also called the Old Tunis Cemetery, this burial ground served pioneers of the fertile Brazos valley, with graves reaching back to the 1840s. John and Sarah Wright Echols formally set aside the land in 1867 for a graveyard and a Baptist church that later disbanded. Among those resting here is Judge John Gregg, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence, planter, and Milam County justice.
Near Homesite of Judge Andrew S. Broaddus
Cooks Point, TX
Andrew S. Broaddus was already a Virginia legislator when, in 1854, he led a mile-long wagon train of some 200 people west to the Texas frontier, where the newcomers raised Salem Baptist Church as a piece of the home they'd left behind. A restless public man, he debated Sam Houston at a nearby campground, sat in the 1861 Secession Convention and several sessions of the Texas Legislature, and helped choose the site for what became Texas A&M. He closed his life as a district judge, father of thirteen, on the land near this spot.