First Baptist Church of Navasota

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. In the spring of 1860, six men got together in Navasota and formed a church. Six men.

That's it. That's where this story starts. And Navasota was a railroad town, fresh and rough around the edges, so this congregation was one of the first of any faith to put down roots there.

By fall of that same year, fifty-two members had joined up. Six became fifty-two in a matter of months. You start to get a sense of what kind of congregation this was going to be.

They held services in the town's schoolhouse first, then borrowed space from a Methodist church, and they kept on growing. Eventually, the Houston and Texas Central Railway gave them a site outright, a gift, and around 1872 the Baptists built themselves a small frame sanctuary on that land. But frame wasn't going to hold this congregation forever.

In 1889, the pastor's wife, Mrs. A. E.

Baten, drew up the plans herself for a permanent edifice of native stone. Now let that sit with you a moment. She drew the plans.

Funds came in from members and non-members alike, sometimes in the form of donations of cattle, and what rose up out of all that effort was a stone building with a steeple, forty-six feet by sixty-seven feet by thirty-seven feet by sixty-seven feet, completed in 1890. By 1925, that wasn't enough room anymore, so a two-story annex went up. Then in 1955 a new, larger sanctuary was erected entirely.

But that 1890 stone building, the one Mrs. Baten planned, never went away. In 1969 it was converted into a fellowship hall, and then the next year a disastrous fire came through.

That could have been the end of it. Instead, the congregation restored the building, and by 1971 it was standing again. The congregation, by the time the marker was written, numbered more than nine hundred members.

They had already founded and financed one local mission that became self-supporting, and they were underwriting another. In the church's first one hundred and sixteen years, thirty-five pastors had served that pulpit. Six men in the spring of 1860.

That's where it all began.

What the marker says

In the spring of 1860, six men formed this church, one of the first of any faith in the railroad town of Navasota. By fall there were 52 members, and growth continued. Services were held in the town's schoolhouse, and then in a Methodist church, until the Baptists received a site as a gift from the Houston & Texas Central Railway, and built a small frame sanctuary about 1872. A permanent edifice of native stone was started after Mrs. A. E. Baten, wife of the pastor, drew plans in 1889. Funds came from members and non-members, sometimes as donations of cattle, and a 46' x 67' x 37' x 67' stone building with a steeple was completed in 1890. By 1925 more room was needed; a 2-story annex was constructed. Although a new, larger sanctuary was erected in 1955, the 1890 building is still used. In 1969, it was converted into a fellowship hall, and after a disastrous fire the next year was restored in 1971. The congregation-- now numbering more than 900 members-- founded and financed one local mission that became self-supporting, and now underwrites another. During the church's first 116 years, it has been served by 35 pastors.