First Baptist Church Building, 1908

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this one. Now, some buildings just sit there. Four walls, a roof, maybe a door that sticks in the summer.

But every once in a while, a building carries itself with a little something extra, and this one, friends, this one has got it. We're talking about the First Baptist Church Building in Coryell County, the one that went up in 1908. Designed by a man named Melton W.

Scott, out of Waco. Now you don't just hand the job of a church to anybody. You find somebody who understands that a building meant for worship has got to do a little preaching all on its own.

And Scott, he delivered. What he drew up was a lofty one-story structure of stone with brick accents, and before you let "one-story" lull you into thinking small, remember that word: lofty. This building reaches.

It has asymmetrical wooden towers, which is a fancy way of saying the two towers don't match, and somehow that makes it more interesting, not less. Like a face with a little character in it. And then there are the art glass windows, catching the light in ways that plain glass never could.

The congregation that gathered here was already historic by the time the walls went up. And it was during the pastorate of the Reverend A. B.

Jenkins that this particular building came to be. The congregation worshipped here primarily for decades, right up through 1965, when the building took on a new role, housing Sunday School classes and other church programs. The mission shifted, but the building stayed.

Stone and brick and art glass and those two towers, still standing in Coryell County, still telling their story to anyone willing to look up.

What the marker says

Designed by Melton W. Scott of Waco, this structure was built in 1908 for the historic First Baptist Church congregation during the pastorate of the Rev. A. B. Jenkins. The lofty one-story building of stone with brick accents features asymmetrical wooden towers and art glass windows. It was used primarily for worship services until 1965 when it became the location for Sunday School classes and other churches programs. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1991