DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the First Baptist Church of Bartlett, up there in Bell County. Pull up a chair — this one's got more layers than you might expect from a country church on the side of a Texas road. It starts not in Bartlett at all, but three miles to the west, in a little community called Pecan Grove.
Back in 1873, three reverends came together to organize what they called the Pecan Grove Baptist Church. Their names were the Reverend M.V. Smith, the Reverend H.I.
Kimball, and the Reverend G.W. Baines. Now that last name — Baines — you might want to sit with that for a second.
The Reverend G.W. Baines was the great-grandfather of United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson. There it is, just folded right into the founding of a rural Texas congregation like it's no big thing.
Eleven years after that founding, in 1884, the church picked itself up and moved into Bartlett from the Pecan Grove community, and when it arrived, it arrived with a new name — the First Baptist Church of Bartlett. Members built a one-room frame sanctuary, and in the 1890s they shared that space with a local Methodist fellowship. Two denominations, one roof.
You make arrangements when you have to. But the congregation kept growin', and growin' has a way of rendering arrangements temporary. By 1900, a new wooden structure went up right here on this property.
Now here's the part that makes you stop and think about generosity. The land itself — this very ground — was donated to the fellowship by a German immigrant named J.E. Pietzsch, born in 1844, and his wife Margaret, born in 1848.
Pioneer area settlers, both of them, and members not of this Baptist congregation but of St. John's Lutheran Church. They gave the land anyway.
That is a particular kind of neighborly faith that doesn't ask for matching denominational credentials before it acts. The congregation kept right on growin', and in 1930 they built again — this time a full brick sanctuary, larger than anything that had come before. The Brownwood firm of Moore and Hale did the building, and they finished it during the pastorate of the Reverend W.M.
Lanier. Now a brick sanctuary costs real money, and this congregation knew it. So the members went to work contributing funds, dollar by dollar, until six years after that building was completed, they had raised every last cent needed to cover the total cost of construction.
And on Sunday morning, December 13, 1936, they gathered right here to mark that moment the only way that truly satisfies — with a note-burning ceremony. The debt, turned to ash, in front of everybody who helped retire it. That's not just a financial milestone.
That's a congregation telling its own story out loud, with fire.
What the marker says
Originally known as Pecan Grove Baptist Church, this fellowship was organized in 1873 by the Rev. M.V. Smith, The Rev. H.I. Kimball, and the Rev. G.W. Baines, great-grandfather of United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson. In 1884 the church was moved to Bartlett from the Pecan Grove community (3 mi. W) and the congregational name was changed. Members built a one-room frame sanctuary which was shared with a local Methodist fellowship during the 1890s. When the membership outgrew the facility a new wooden structure was built at this location in 1900. The property here was donated to the fellowship by German immigrant J.E. Pietzsch (1844-1924) and his wife Margaret (1848-1929), pioneer area settlers and members of St. John's Lutheran Church. Continued growth led to the construction of a larger sanctuary here in 1930. Built by the Brownwood firm of Moore and Hale, the brick sanctuary was finished during the pastorate of the Rev. W.M. Lanier. Six years after completion of the structure, church members had contributed the funds to pay the total cost of construction. The event was celebrated with a special note-burning ceremony here on Sunday morning, December 13, 1936. (1981)