Woods Chapel Baptist Church
Arlington, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On April 28, 1901, a group of worshippers gathered together in a brush arbor to organize a church congregation. Led by the Rev. Washington Lafayette Wood, a missionary who had arrived in Tarrant County from Alabama in 1891, the members immediately began the task of building a sanctuary on land donated by Sam McMurray. A small white frame structure was dedicated at this site in November 1901 and the church was named for the Rev. Mr. Wood. Worship services were conducted on both Saturdays and Sundays until 1910. Baptismal services were held in the nearby Rush and Village Creeks until 1912, when the congregation began to use a stock tank on the property of church member Will Moore. In 1928 the congregation called its first full-time Pastor, the Rev. C.W. Walton. Additional property was purchased in 1937, and an educational building was erected. The Rev. Mr. Walton continued to lead the congregation through the difficult years of the Depression, serving as Pastor until his death in 1941. The church continued to grow over the years. A new sanctuary, built in 1948, is still in use as a chapel for special services.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On an April day in 1901, worshippers met under a brush arbor to found a congregation led by the Rev. Washington Lafayette Wood, a missionary who had come to Tarrant County from Alabama a decade earlier. On land donated by a neighbor they raised a small white frame sanctuary, baptized converts in nearby creeks, and held their church together through the Depression years, eventually building the 1948 sanctuary still used today.
Why it matters
The story of a rural Texas congregation growing from a brush arbor to a lasting church reflects how faith communities anchored small Southern towns across the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · Washington Lafayette Wood
- · Sam McMurray
- · C.W. Walton
Themes & tags
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