DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Now, picture this: August 17, 1878. The summer heat hangin' over Corpus Christi — back when Corpus Christi was a small, isolated coastal village, the kind of place the rest of the world hadn't quite found yet.
And on that particular evening, a group of local residents gathered in the home of a man named S.T. Foster, over at 702 Antelope Street. They weren't there for supper.
They were there to build something. Under the leadership of the Reverend J.W.D. Creath — a noted pioneer Baptist missionary, the marker's careful to say — the First Baptist Church of Corpus Christi was constituted.
Eight charter members. That's all it took. Eight people in one man's parlor, and something permanent got started.
Then, just a few weeks later, in September of that same year, the congregation joined the Blanco Baptist Association, which itself had only been formed five years before. Brand new church joining a young association — neither one of them old enough to know what they couldn't do. Now here's a detail that'll stay with you: in those early years, the congregation held its worship services in a renovated blacksmith shop.
Corner of Mesquite and Starr Streets. They worshipped there until about 1908. There's something in that — hammers and horseshoes giving way to hymns, that same floor holding both.
By 1910, the congregation had built themselves a proper brick sanctuary, this one at Mesquite and Taylor. That building served the church for decades, until March 23, 1950, when new facilities on Ocean Drive were occupied — a date specific enough that somebody clearly marked it on a calendar and remembered it the rest of their life. Through all of it, the church drew prominent Baptist leaders into its pulpit.
Dr. J.M. Carroll served as the church's first missionary pastor.
Dr. D.B. South followed in that line.
The Reverend R.O. Cawker. Dr.
C.E. Hereford. Names the marker preserves like they deserve to be preserved.
And from those late 1870s on, as Corpus Christi grew from that small isolated coastal village into something far larger, the First Baptist Church grew with it — known for community service ministries, active support of Baptist programs, and a hand in forming several other local congregations. Eight people in a parlor on Antelope Street. That's where it began.
And the ripples, as they say, kept going.
What the marker says
On August 17, 1878, a group of local residents met in the home of S.T. Foster at 702 Antelope Street to organize the First Baptist Church of Corpus Christi. Under the leadership of the Rev. J.W.D. Creath, a noted pioneer baptist missionary, the church was constituted with eight charter members. In September 1878, the congregation joined the Blanco Baptist Association, which had been formed five years earlier. Worship services for the church were conducted in a renovated blacksmith shop at the corner of Mesquite and Starr Streets until about 1908. In 1910 the congregation built a brick sanctuary at Mesquite and Taylor, which served until new facilities were occupied on Ocean Drive on March 23, 1950. From the late 1870's, when Corpus Christi was a small isolated coastal village, to the present, the First Baptist Church has led in the development of the area. Known for its community service ministries and its active support of baptist programs, the church has also been instrumental in the formation of several local congregations. Ministers here have included such prominent baptist leaders as Dr. J.M. Carroll, the church's first missionary pastor, Dr. D.B. South, the Rev. R.O. Cawker and Dr. C.E. Hereford.