First Baptist Church of McKinney at Drexel Street

Duane's take

Here's how the marker at Drexel Street tells it, and I'm passing it on straight. Now, if you want to talk about beginnings, you go back to April of 1882. That's when the Rev.

A.R. Griggs gathered a congregation together in McKinney and said, in so many words, we are going to build something here. They called it the Second Baptist Church in those early days, and they didn't wait on fine timber or cut stone to get started worshippin'.

They held their first services under a brush arbor; just branches and sky overhead, a roof made of whatever the land offered. There's something about that image that sticks with you. The fellowship grew, and in 1893, the land right here at this site was formally deeded over to the church trustees.

Two men signed that deed: T.J. Brown and one James W. Throckmorton, a former governor of Texas.

A former governor, handing over land to a congregation that had been prayin' under open sky. The following year, 1894, they built the first real sanctuary on that ground. By then the name had changed too.

What started as the Second Baptist Church had become the First Baptist Church of McKinney at Drexel Street. A congregation that ordained ministers, served its community, and by the time that marker went up in 1982, had been shaping the life of that area for over a century. One hundred years from a brush arbor to a cornerstone of Collin County.

Some foundations, it turns out, don't need much more than a patch of shade and a man with a calling to get started.

What the marker says

This congregation was organized in April 1882 under the direction of the Rev. A.R. Griggs. Originally known as the Second Baptist Church, the fellowship conducted early worship services under a brush arbor. Land at this site was deeded to church trustees in 1893 by T.J. Brown and James W. Throckmorton, a former Texas governor. The first sanctuary was built here the following year. Active in community service and in the ordination of ministers, the congregation has played a major role in the development of the area for over a century. (1982)