Walnut Creek Baptist Church
Diana, Upshur County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Pioneer settlers of this area formally organized a Baptist Church of Christ at Walnut Creek about 1855. In 1856 the congregation acquired more than 17 acres here on which they built a sanctuary and established a cemetery. The oldest marked grave dates to 1870. The congregation expanded its facilities over the years to provide Sunday School services, a parsonage, and to accommodate a growing membership. A new brick sanctuary was erected near this site in 1978. The church continues to support a variety of ministries, maintain the historic cemetery, and serve the local community. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pioneer settlers organized a Baptist congregation at Walnut Creek around 1855, and in 1856 acquired more than seventeen acres for a sanctuary and cemetery, whose oldest marked grave dates to 1870. Over the generations the church added Sunday school facilities and a parsonage, replacing its old sanctuary with a brick building in 1978. It remains an active congregation and steward of its historic frontier cemetery.
Why it matters
The church shows how frontier religious communities anchored settlement in antebellum East Texas and endured as continuous institutions for well over a century.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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