First Baptist Church of Palmer

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Baptist Church of Palmer. Now, every church worth its salt has a founding story, and this one starts on a November day. November the seventeenth, 1873, to be exact.

The Rev. T. H.

Durham stood up and preached at the organizational meeting of what would become this Missionary Baptist congregation right here in Ellis County. You can almost feel that autumn chill in the air as folks gathered together and decided they were going to build something lasting. The charter members who put their names to it?

Lucinda Crawford. Susan and John Nixon. Elizabeth and James Perkins.

A handful of people, sure, but they had enough conviction to get the whole thing rolling. Now here's the thing about a new congregation without a building: you make do with what you've got. And what they had were each other's homes.

That's where worship services were originally held; passed from parlor to parlor, front porch to sitting room, wherever the fellowship could gather. By 1891, the congregation had grown enough to share a Union Church building, and they weren't alone in it. Three other denominations were under that same roof.

Four different flocks, one building. I'd imagine scheduling the Sunday mornings took some negotiation. But they kept growing, kept pressing forward, and come 1900 to 1901, this congregation built the frame structure that still stands today.

It's been enlarged and modernized over the years; periodically, as the marker puts it; shaped by every generation that called it home. And out of this one congregation, over all those years, five people have been ordained into the ministry. Five souls who heard something in this place and answered a call larger than themselves.

Started in somebody's living room in 1873. Still standing. Some stories don't need any embellishment at all.

What the marker says

The Rev. T. H. Durham preached at the organizational meeting of this Missionary Baptist Church on Nov. 17, 1873. Charter members included Lucinda Crawford, Susan and John Nixon, and Elizabeth and James Perkins. Worship services were originally held in the members' homes. By 1891, this Baptist fellowship was sharing a Union Church building with three other denominations. The present frame structure, built in 1900-1901, has been periodically enlarged and modernized. Five persons from this congregation have been ordained into the ministry. (1976)