St. Frederick Baptist Church
Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas
Marker Inscription
St. Frederick Baptist Church has served the African American community of Marble Falls for more than 120 years. It was founded in the home of Dicey Yett Johnson in 1893 with a small group of worshipers that became St. Frederick's congregation. Johnson was born into slavery in the nearby Spicewood area and married Green Johnson. They moved with their nine children to Marble Falls, founded in 1887, and lived in a small house behind the Roper Hotel where Dicey was employed. Dicey used her home as the organizational site of the congregation of the St. Frederick Baptist Church until they started using the former Blazing Star Lodge building in 1899. The African American community once lived in the northeast section of Marble Falls but started to move to the southwest portion of town. To accommodate that change in location in 1907, St. John’s Association traded the land on Main Street for property down the hill from Main Street, near Avenue L. The building was moved to this new site and remodeled, and soon after church and school resumed at the new site. In 1955 this church located in the “hollow” was torn down and rebuilt at the corner of Avenue N and West First Street. The current church, built in 1978 at Avenue N and West Third Street, survived financial hardships of the 20th century. Since 1985 the church has also been an outreach center that provides meals for the needy and the home bound of the entire Marble Falls Area.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
St. Frederick Baptist Church has anchored the African American community of Marble Falls for more than 120 years, founded in 1893 in the home of Dicey Yett Johnson, who had been born into slavery near Spicewood. From her house the congregation moved into a former lodge building, then followed the community's shift across town in 1907, rebuilding again in 1955 and 1978. Since 1985 the church has also run an outreach center feeding the needy and homebound of the Marble Falls area.
Why it matters
The church's long history maps the resilience and mobility of a Texas Black community from the generation that emerged out of slavery into the present day.
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Related people
- · Dicey Yett Johnson
- · Green Johnson
Themes & tags
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