First Baptist Church of Gilmer

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Upshur County, in the town of Gilmer, there's a congregation with roots that run deep, deep into the East Texas soil. We're talking 1846, friend.

A log cabin. Four walls, probably a dirt floor, and a handful of faithful souls who decided that was enough to start something. They called it the Gilmer Missionary Baptist Church of Christ, and that name alone tells you they meant business from the very beginning.

Now, eight years on, by 1854, the congregation had all of twenty-two members and a pastor, the Reverend J. M. Griffin, to lead them.

Twenty-two people. You could seat them at a long supper table and still have room for the biscuits. But something was stirring.

Membership climbed to a hundred by 1869, and in the early 1870s they finally raised their first proper church building, about one block north of where the marker stands today. First time they had walls that weren't logs. That's a moment worth savoring.

Then comes 1878, and a fellow named Walter Grimmer organized the first Sunday School. Keep building, keep adding, keep growing. The Ladies Aid Society came together in 1895, and right behind that, in 1896, they put up a new brick sanctuary.

Brick. That's a congregation saying, we're not going anywhere. The first full-time pastor, the Reverend J.

L. Mahan, was called in 1904. First full-time.

Everything before that, all those decades of growth and building, was done without a pastor who belonged entirely to them. Let that settle a moment. They purchased the land right here in 1909, and in 1911 they erected a new sanctuary, one that contained something they'd never had before: their first baptistry.

That same year, with a membership of four hundred and ten souls, the church became a charter member of the Pittsburg Baptist Association. Four hundred and ten. You'll recall they had twenty-two back in 1854.

A parsonage went up in 1918. An education building followed in 1925. And in 1929, after more than eighty years of history, the congregation took a new name: First Baptist Church of Gilmer.

The marker notes they've kept on remodeling, building, expanding, and serving, supporting missionary activities and outreach programs, growing right alongside the community they call home. Started in a log cabin in 1846, and still going. Some things you plant in East Texas, they just don't stop growing.

What the marker says

First congregation was organized in a log cabin in 1846 as the Gilmer Missionary Baptist Church of Christ. In 1854 the congregation consisted of 22 members and the Rev. J. M. Griffin served as pastor. Church membership grew to 100 in 1869 and in the early 1870s the first church building was erected about one block north of this site. Walter Grimmer organized the first Sunday School in 1878. A Ladies Aid Society was organized in 1895 and in 1896 a new brick sanctuary was erected. The first full-time pastor, the Rev. J. L. Mahan, was called in 1904. The congregation purchased land here in 1909 and in 1911 a new sanctuary containing their first baptistry was erected. That year the church, with a membership of 410, became a charter member of the Pittsburg Baptist Association. A parsonage was built here in 1918 and an education building in 1925. The church was renamed First Baptist Church of Gilmer in 1929. Over the years the church has remodeled existing structures and added new buildings to its property to serve its growing congregation. The congregation has grown with the community and continues to support missionary activities and serve the area with a variety of outreach programs. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995