Eighth Street Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Temple, Texas, came into being as a railroad town in 1882, and almost before the last spike was driven, somebody was already thinking about more than iron rails and timber ties. The Rev.

L.J. Mackey organized a congregation called the Saint Love All Baptist Church. That name alone deserves a moment of quiet appreciation.

Saint Love All. Right there in the name, you've got the whole mission spelled out plain as daylight. And the mission was exactly that: to serve the African American railroad workers who had come to build and run this new town, and who needed a church to call their own.

The congregation set down roots on the southeast corner of D and 12th streets, and there they stayed for more than two decades. Then came 1905. Going by the name First Baptist Church, Colored by that point, the members packed up and moved to a new location, on what was then Eighth Street.

A new corner, a new chapter. And then, in 1911, under the pastorate of the Rev. J.S.

Simmons, the congregation gathered itself up and adopted the name it carries to this day: Eighth Street Baptist Church. From a railroad mission organized in a brand-new town, to a congregation with a name rooted in the very street it calls home. That church has kept right on going, through youth programs, senior ministries, care for the homebound, weaving itself into the fabric of the community it was always meant to serve.

Some things, once they take root, just will not quit growing.

What the marker says

Soon after the establishment of Temple as a railroad town in 1882, the Rev. L.J. Mackey organized the Saint Love All Baptist Church. The early mission of the church was to serve African American railroad workers in the new town. It was located on the southeast corner of D and 12th streets until 1905, when, as the First Baptist Church (Colored), members moved to this location on what was then Eighth Street. In 1911, during the pastorate of the Rev. J.S. Simmons, members adopted the present congregational name. The church has played a vital role in the development of the community it serves through active ministries that include youth, senior and homebound programs. (2005)