Travis Baptist Church
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1911, residents of the rural southwest Nueces County farming community of London formed the London Baptist Church. The congregation included forty charter members and services were held in the community's school which had been donated by Sam and Fanny London. The Londons donated property for the construction of a church building in 1920. Although the building was destroyed by fire in 1936, another was quickly constructed. World War II caused a decline in population in the London community as residents enlisted in the military or relocated to support the war effort. The Corpus Christi area boomed after the war, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas proposed that London Baptist Church relocate to Corpus Christi, where many church members lived. A site was selected near Travis Elementary School and the La Armada Housing Project, which housed Navy personnel. The church moved in 1945, and the congregation's name changed to Travis Baptist Church. When a survey conducted by the Baptist General Convention in 1959 showed the need for a church in the Schanen Estates area, the congregation again accepted the challenge to relocate to property at the corner of Schanen Boulevard and Weber Road. Travis Baptist Church participates yearly in a community-wide Thanksgiving service and sponsors an annual summer camp for children. The congregation has sponsored many outreach programs, including support of churches in California and Maryland, and has been recognized by the Baptist General Convention for its contributions to the ministry of Hispanic missions in south Texas. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1911 as London Baptist Church, this congregation began with forty charter members meeting in a rural Nueces County schoolhouse donated by the London family. When World War II drained the farming community and the postwar Corpus Christi area boomed, the church relocated in 1945 near a Navy housing project and took the name Travis Baptist. It later moved again as the city grew and became known for its outreach, including support of Hispanic missions across south Texas.
Why it matters
Travis Baptist shows how wartime mobilization and postwar urban growth reshaped rural congregations, pulling scattered farm families into the booming defense cities of mid-century Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Rev. Levi Tenney
Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Moravian Club of Nueces County
Corpus Christi, TX
In the early 20th century, Czech-speaking settlers—most of Moravian descent—streamed into southwestern Nueces County, drawn by Stanislav Kostohryz's advertised "Bohemian Colony Lands" and the promise of affordable farmland. The community that grew up around them, Kostoryz, needed a gathering place, and in 1923 residents formed what became the Moravian Club of Nueces County. Across three successive halls—one displaced when the Navy bought land for Cabaniss Air Field—the club anchored dances, church socials, Czech-language music, and even semi-pro baseball.
Galvan Ballroom
Corpus Christi, TX
Rising near downtown Corpus Christi in 1950, this streamline moderne building was the creation of Rafael Galvan, the city's first Hispanic police officer turned businessman, who added a 9,000-square-foot second-floor ballroom to showcase his children's orchestra. Over the decade that followed the hall welcomed touring big-band and jazz greats alongside conjunto and swing acts, becoming a rare stage where Hispanic performers could reach audiences that segregated clubs often kept them from. Still a working venue, it endures as a landmark of Mexican American musical life on the Gulf Coast.
Antonio E. Garcia
Corpus Christi, TX
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1901, Antonio E. Garcia was sent with his sisters to South Texas in 1914 amid the upheaval of the Mexican Revolution. He trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before settling in Corpus Christi in 1935, where he drew on his Mexican heritage to create award-winning frescoes, murals, and wood carvings. Over six decades he painted monumental church frescoes, exhibited at the Texas Centennial, helped found the South Texas Art League, and taught at Del Mar College.
Site of Cheston L. Heath School
Corpus Christi, TX
What began in 1896 as a one-year experiment to teach Corpus Christi's Mexican American children grew into a thriving school, gaining a permanent building in 1901 and later named for benefactor Cheston L. Heath. Under longtime principal Rose Dunne Shaw—who ran a soup kitchen for her pupils during the Depression—it educated generations of students until 1968, when they were integrated into other district schools; the site later became the Nueces County Courthouse.