Andice Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Andice Baptist Church in Williamson County. Now settle in, because this one reaches back a good long ways. The Rev.

Freeman Smalley, one of the first Baptists in Texas, came through this part of the country and preached in this very area about 1850. One year later, about 1851, a congregation organized itself right here. No grand building, mind you.

They gathered in a log schoolhouse built by Joshua Stapp and others, and that arrangement carried them from 1854 all the way to 1876. Then came a new school building, which served from 1876 to 1894. And then, finally, a structure of their own, out at Pilot Knob, where they worshipped from 1894 to 1936.

Along the way the congregation wore three different names. They were called Stapp Baptist Church, then White House Baptist Church, then Pilot Knob Baptist Church. Three names, one faithful congregation.

In 1936 they packed up and moved to Andice, and today they worship near that original site. Now here is the detail the marker saves for last, and it is the kind of detail that earns a story its place on a roadside post. The first pastor of this church, Josiah Andrews, would walk up to that hewn, oak-stump Bible stand, and before he opened his mouth to preach, he would hang his pistol on a peg right there on the stand.

He preached the Word, and the pistol waited. Out on the Texas frontier about 1851, that was just Sunday morning.

What the marker says

The Rev. Freeman Smalley, one of the first Baptists in Texas, preached in this area about 1850. This church was organized about 1851, meeting in a log schoolhouse built by Joshua Stapp and others, 1854-76; in a new school building, 1876-94; and in a structure of its own at Pilot Knob, 1894-1936. Successively called "Stapp," "White House," and "Pilot Knob" Baptist Church, the congregation moved to Andice in 1936. It now worships near the original site, where the first pastor, Josiah Andrews, used to hand his pistol on a peg on the hewn, oak-stump Bible stand while he preached.