Antioch Community

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, straight from the heart of Hood County. Antioch. Doesn't sound like much today, a rural patch of western Hood County, quiet as a Sunday afternoon.

But peel back a layer or two, and you find something that was once very much alive. Let me walk you through it. The last Indian fight in the county happened right in this vicinity.

They called it the Point of the Timbers, or the Battle of Lookout Point, and it went down in September of 1869. That's where this land enters the record; not with a church social, but with a fight. Organized settlement came in the 1870s, when families started putting down roots, establishing ranches at the head of Stroud's Creek, upstream from a place called Thorp Spring.

Stage routes from Fort Worth and Tolar passed nearby, so this wasn't the end of the earth; it was on the way somewhere. Now, two miles east of where we're talkin' about, a Baptist church, a school, and a cemetery all got their start in 1881. That little cluster of life went by the name Stroud's Creek.

It ticked along for a few years, and then in August of 1889, the congregation picked up and moved. Moved to this very site. And when they did, they changed the name.

They called it Antioch. The Musick family gave the land, both for the church and for the cemetery right beside it. The first grave in Antioch Cemetery belongs to a teenager named Lottie Brown, and that date is May of 1890.

Two Confederate veterans are also laid to rest there: George Washington Brown, who lived from 1811 to 1891, and Austin Musick, 1826 to 1897. The cemetery itself went inactive in 1941. And the church, by 1956, membership of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church had dwindled down to twelve members.

Twelve. The congregation disbanded, and the church building was moved to Paluxy. Now the school has its own story worth tellin'.

Back in 1894, the Ellis School of Stroud's Creek split three ways: into Ellis, Asbury, and Antioch schools. An early Antioch teacher named Richard Mugg went on to become county school superintendent and then county judge. Not bad for a schoolteacher out on the frontier end of Hood County.

Asbury eventually merged back with Antioch (known locally as Midway, just to keep things interesting) and that happened in 1920. Classes ended in 1941, and after that the students headed to Tolar School. Now here's the detail that sticks with you.

Tolar School had a mascot: the Rattlers. And that mascot was inspired by a four-foot rattlesnake captured right out on Antioch's Jarvis Ranch. Four feet of inspiration, right there.

The school building is gone now. The church building is gone. But the cemetery remains, and the marker tells us plainly.

It marks the historic center of Antioch. A community that started with a fight in September of 1869, grew into churches and schools and families, and ended, quietly, with twelve people in a pew and a rattlesnake that outlived them all in legend.

What the marker says

Antioch, formerly an active farming community, is today a rural locale of western Hood County. The last Indian fight in the county, called Point of the Timbers or Battle of Lookout Point, occurred in this vicinity in September 1869. Organized settlement began in the 1870s, when families established ranches at the head of Stroud's Creek upstream from Thorp Spring. Stage routes from Fort Worth and Tolar also passed nearby. A Baptist church, school and cemetery begun two miles east in 1881 became a small settlement called Stroud's Creek. In August 1889, the congregation moved to this site and changed the church name to Antioch. The Musick family gave land for the church and an adjoining cemetery. The first grave in Antioch Cemetery, that of teenager Lottie Brown, dates to May 1890. Confederate veterans George Washington Brown (1811-1891) and Austin Musick (1826-1897) are also interred there. The cemetery became inactive in 1941. By 1956, membership of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church had dwindled to twelve members, and so the congregation disbanded and the church building was moved to Paluxy. In 1894, Ellis School of Stroud's Creek split into Ellis, Asbury and Antioch schools. Early Antioch teacher Richard Mugg later became county school superintendent and county judge. Asbury merged with Antioch (known locally as Midway) in 1920. Classes ended in 1941 and students attended Tolar School, where the mascot of the Rattlers was inspired by a four-foot rattlesnake captured on Antioch's Jarvis Ranch. With the school and church buildings now gone, the cemetery marks the historic center of Antioch. (2006)