Biloxi Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. Way out in Newton County, there's a place called Biloxi, and its story stretches back further than most folks stop to think about. Settlement of this area began in the early 19th Century, as people moved into Texas from the southern United States.

They came looking for something, land, a life, a start, and they found enough of all three to put down roots. By 1849, this community had itself a post office, which tells you something right there. You don't get a post office unless people intend to stay.

And stay they did. Homes went up. Businesses followed.

Schools and churches took shape. The kind of scaffolding that turns a stretch of land into a place people call home. Then came the Civil War, and in its aftermath, many former slaves established homes here in Biloxi.

That is not a small thing. That is people, freed from bondage, choosing a place and building a life in it with their own hands. In 1870, Biloxi Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, the C.M.E.

Church, began meeting informally. Nothing fancy at first, just people gathering, which is how the most lasting things tend to begin. Decades later, in 1921, Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church was founded.

Two congregations, two streams of faith, both woven into the fabric of the same community. And out at Biloxi Evergreen Cemetery, dating back to the 1880s, the generations are kept. The names of those who came early, who built what others inherited, who made Biloxi what it is.

The marker says it plain: Biloxi continues to be an important part of Newton County. Some places earn that quietly, over a long stretch of time, with churches and cemeteries and post offices and people who chose to stay. Biloxi is one of those places.

What the marker says

Settlement of this area began in the early 19th Century, as people moved into Texas from the southern United States. A post office was established in 1849, and continued settlement resulted in the building of homes, businesses, schools, and churches. Many former slaves established homes here following the Civil War. Biloxi Colored Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) Church began meeting informally in 1870, and Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church began in 1921. Biloxi Evergreen Cemetery dates to the 1880s. Biloxi continues to be an important part of Newton County.