First Baptist Church of Hargill

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna make sure it gets its due. Now, every good Texas story starts with land and the people willin' to work it. This one begins in 1912, when the Missouri-Texas Land Company started bringin' settlers into the area for cattle ranching.

That's the seed of the whole thing. But it took a railroad to really get the soil moving. In 1926, a branch line went up connecting Raymondville to Edinburg, and right around that same time, the Harding-Gill Company was out selling farm tracts in the surrounding area.

The town of Hargill was taking shape, and with any town worth its salt, the people needed a place to worship. Now, a small Baptist congregation had already been meeting since 1923, borrowing a church from somebody kind enough to share one. Three years they did that.

Three years of borrowed pews and borrowed patience. Then Walter Holt stepped up. He led the drive to raise the funds, and by 1926, the Baptists built themselves a wood frame church right beside Highway 490.

Their own. No more borrowing. And when it came time for baptisms, well, they went to Bucy Lake.

Can you picture it? Out under the South Texas sky, wading into Bucy Lake to mark a new beginning. That's how it went, year after year, all the way until 1956.

That year, the church itself got moved, thirty feet north, and remodeled. They kept the original wooden floors, because some things you simply do not let go of, and they added a baptistry so the faithful wouldn't have to travel to the lake anymore. Today the First Baptist Church of Hargill is home to the Busy Ladies Club and sponsors community activities that keep the town knit together.

A borrowed church became a built church, and a built church became the center of something lasting.

What the marker says

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HARGILL BEGINNING IN 1912, THE MISSOURI-TEXAS LAND COMPANY BROUGHT SETTLERS TO THE AREA FOR CATTLE RANCHING. AFTER THE RAILROAD BUILT A RAYMONDVILLE-EDINBURG BRANCH LINE IN 1926, THE HARDING-GILL COMPANY SOLD FARM TRACTS AROUND HARGILL. A SMALL BAPTIST CONGREGATION MET IN A BORROWED CHURCH FROM 1923 TO 1926. WALTER HOLT LED THE DRIVE TO RAISE FUNDS, AND THE BAPTISTS BUILT THIS WOOD FRAME CHURCH BESIDE HIGHWAY 490 IN 1926. BAPTISMS TOOK PLACE IN BUCY LAKE UNTIL 1956 WHEN THE CHURCH WAS MOVED 30 FEET NORTH AND REMODELED, KEEPING THE ORIGINAL WOODEN FLOORS AND ADDING A BAPTISTRY. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH HOSTS THE BUSY LADIES CLUB AND SPONSORS MANY COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES.