First Baptist Church of Groesbeck

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the First Baptist Church of Groesbeck, and I'm just the man passing it along. Now, you have to understand something about railroads and the towns they left behind. When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad came through and Groesbeck was founded in 1871, the old town of Springfield, sitting five miles to the northwest, got bypassed.

Just like that, the railroad drew a new map, and folks had to decide which way to walk. Some of the Baptists from Springfield made their choice. They'd had a church there since 1846, and they weren't about to let that faith dry up and blow away just because the trains weren't stopping anymore.

They came to Groesbeck, and they brought their conviction with them. The organizing didn't happen overnight. It took until 1876 before this church was formally brought together, and when it was, some notable men were part of that work.

William Carey Crane, J. B. Link, Z.

N. Morrell, and other great preachers had visited and helped tend this congregation before it had a proper name on a door. Then came the 1880s, and if you think a church grows quietly, you haven't heard about W.

E. Penn. This evangelist came through holding ten-day revivals, and the marker says growth mounted during events like those.

Ten days. You could plant a field and harvest a faith in that kind of time. One early member, a man named L.

L. Foster, went on to become a Texas Railroad Commissioner and president of Texas A. and M. Not a bad legacy for a congregation still finding its footing.

And through all of it, through buildings raised in 1914, in 1950, and again in 1967, one thing kept ringing out. The Old Springfield Bell. The same bell from that original church founded back in 1846, carried forward from a bypassed town into a growing one, calling people in across more than a century of Texas Sundays.

Some things, it turns out, don't get left behind.

What the marker says

When Groesbeck was founded in 1871, on Houston & Texas Central Railroad, Old Springfield (5 mi. NW) was bypassed. Some Baptists from the church founded there in 1846 moved here. Visited by William Carey Crane, J. B. Link, Z. N. Morrell and other great preachers, they organized this church in 1876. Growth mounted during events such as 10-day revivals held in 1880s by evangelist W. E. Penn. Early member L. L. Foster became a Texas Railroad Commissioner and president of Texas A.& M. Old Springfield Bell was used with 1914, 1950, and 1967 buildings. (1972)