Zion Hill Baptist Church
Comanche vicinity, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Second oldest Missionary Baptist church in county. Organized by C. S. Fritts, J. M. Lumpkin, Dennis O'Brian, Sarah Fritts, Jane O'Brian, Sarah Lumpkin, Stacy Martin and Mary E. Hardin, August 2, 1873, at Zion Hill Cemetery (1/2 mi. W.). First frame building was erected at that site. Delegates from area's various Baptist churches met here in 1875 to form county's first Baptist Association. Church moved to this site, 1912. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized on August 2, 1873, Zion Hill was the second-oldest Missionary Baptist congregation in Comanche County, founded by a small band of settlers who first raised a frame meetinghouse at nearby Zion Hill Cemetery. In 1875 delegates from area churches gathered here to form the county's first Baptist Association, and the congregation moved to its present site in 1912. It was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1968.
Why it matters
Frontier churches were among the first institutions settlers built, knitting scattered homesteads into communities and giving newly organized counties their earliest shared civic life.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Old Gill Farm
Comanche vicinity, TX
W. A. Gill, son of a San Jacinto veteran, settled this Comanche County land in 1874 after fighting in the Civil War and serving as a captain in the Texas Rangers. His sons E. V. and Fleet lived here for many years on the family farm. In 1964 the remains in the family plot were reinterred a mile north at Buffalo Cemetery.
Mount Pleasant Baptist Church
Comanche vicinity, TX
This congregation began in October 1892 under a brush arbor, the humble open-air shelter of frontier worship, with twenty-one charter members and their first pastor, F. M. Herring. When Will Dewitt donated land that November, the community dedicated its first building the following spring. A tabernacle followed in 1906 and the present church in 1913, tracing the steady growth of a pioneer congregation.
M. R. (Boss) Greene
Comanche, TX
Deputy U.S. Marshal M.R. "Boss" Greene chased down brothers Dee and James Bailey in 1877 for passing counterfeit quarters in Comanche, running them ten miles before disarming them. Caught off guard when his horse turned unruly, Greene was shot with his own rifle by one of the prisoners; he returned fire with his pistol but died of his wounds. The brothers fled, were recaptured, and were hanged from a live oak in this cemetery, where Greene himself lies buried.
George Washington Gentry
Comanche, TX
A member of Stephen F. Austin's colony, George Washington Gentry came to Texas in 1835 and settled in what became Washington County, working as a farmer and surveyor. He took part in the Texas Revolution, fought in several skirmishes with Native peoples, and helped defend San Antonio during the 1842 Mexican invasions led by Vasquez and Woll before later moving to Comanche County.