First Baptist Church of Milford

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how Duane's gonna pass it along. Back in 1855, eleven people gathered at the home of a man named Dr. J.

M. Higgins, and out of that gathering they chartered what would become the First Baptist Church of Milford. Eleven members.

Not eleven hundred; eleven. And yet they had themselves a church. The first pastor to stand before that little congregation was the Reverend J.

M. Perry, born in Alabama in 1817, a man who would live all the way to 1905 and see this world change in ways nobody at that founding meeting could have imagined. The year after the charter, 1856, they put up a chapel on College Street: a proper building where the fellowship could meet, pray, and do what small congregations do when they're just finding their legs.

That chapel served them well. Served them right up until 1871, when the church was moved to the very site where this marker now stands. And here's where the story gets a little interesting.

The property was deeded not just to the First Baptist congregation, but jointly to the First Baptist and the Cumberland Presbyterian congregations together, and it was those two fellowships, side by side, who financed the construction of a sanctuary right here on this ground. Separate Baptist church structures went up on this site in 1890, and then again in 1917. Two buildings, two eras, the same ground.

And the pastors who served here over the years? The marker tells us they went on to become prominent leaders in Baptist circles at both the state and national level. Eleven people at Dr.

Higgins's home in 1855, and from that, something that reached far beyond Ellis County.

What the marker says

Chartered in 1855 with eleven members, this congregation was organized at the home of Dr. J. M. Higgins. The first pastor was the Rev. J.M. Perry (1817-1905), a native of Alabama. A chapel on College Street, built in 1856, served the fellowship until 1871, when the church was moved to this site. The property was deeded to the First Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterian congregations, who financed the construction of a sanctuary here. Separate Baptist church structures were built here in 1890 and 1917. Former pastors include prominent state and national Baptist leaders.