Shiloh Baptist Church
Waller County, Waller County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On Sept. 21, 1871, at nearby Kirby Chapel Methodist Church, thirteen people with letters of transfer from other congregations banded together as the Shiloh Baptist Church. The Rev. Jesse Tubb and Deacon John M, McGinty assisted with the organization. Ten years later the congregation erected a building of its own at this site, then adjacent to the Pond Creek School, which later was closed. By the early 1900s Shiloh Church had about 100 members. A second building, constructed 1908, served until destroyed by storm in 1957. The third sanctuary, built in 1958, had a wing added in 1961.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In September 1871, thirteen worshippers carrying letters of transfer from other congregations gathered at the nearby Kirby Chapel Methodist Church and organized themselves as Shiloh Baptist Church, aided by the Rev. Jesse Tubb and Deacon John M. McGinty. A decade later the young congregation raised its own building beside the Pond Creek School, and by the early 1900s counted about a hundred members. Successive sanctuaries followed — a 1908 building lost to a 1957 storm, then a third raised in 1958 — marking a rural Texas community's enduring faith through Reconstruction and beyond.
Why it matters
Small congregations like Shiloh were the social anchors of post–Civil War rural Texas, doubling as schools, meeting halls, and the institutional memory of settlements that often left few other records.
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Related people
- · Jesse Tubb
- · John M. McGinty
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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