St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church
Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Extensive settlement in this area began after the end of the Texas Revolution in 1836. The Texas legislature created Wood County in 1850, influencing further settlement. The community of Sodom developed here by 1871, when the Rev. John Branham founded St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in the home of Pinkney and Bettie Brooks. Charter members were Mandy Hall, Mariah Lee, Mary Garrett, Ellis Lee, Willis Oliver and Bettie Brooks. In 1873, renamed Mineola, the town boasted two new rail lines. That same year, St. Paul church members built their first sanctuary at the corner of Harris and Stone streets. The church held early baptisms in a creek near present Wren Street, and the congregation grew over the next decades. In 1897, it purchased this site and constructed a new sanctuary. Later, under the leadership of the Rev. T.B. Johnson, who served the church from 1914 to 1941, the church remodeled its early sanctuary. In 1958, the congregation replaced it with a larger structure. The Rev. Johnson served as moderator of the East Texas Baptist Association, as did the Rev. Lawrence W. Pryor, pastor from 1945 to 1949, who was also president of the Baptist Training Union Congress. These men and other pastors, including the Rev. Charles Colquitt, who served for more than 41 years, helped establish the congregation as a long-standing Mineola institution. Other church leaders included numerous deacons, deaconesses, junior deacons, and men and women who served as trustees and in other capacities. St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church continues to grow and serve the Mineola community as a tie to area pioneers, and as a place for worship, education, service and fellowship. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1871, as freedpeople built new lives after the Civil War, the Rev. John Branham founded St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in the home of Pinkney and Bettie Brooks in the settlement of Sodom, soon renamed Mineola. The congregation raised its first sanctuary in 1873 and held baptisms in a nearby creek, growing under long-serving pastors like the Rev. Charles Colquitt, who led for more than four decades. It remains a cornerstone of the community more than 150 years on.
Why it matters
The church stands as a living monument to the African American families who, in the wake of emancipation, built enduring institutions of worship, education, and leadership.
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Related people
- · Rev. John Branham
- · Rev. T.B. Johnson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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