First Christian Church of Seymour

Duane's take

The way the marker on this church tells it, here's the story as Duane is bound to pass it along. Back in March of 1880, twelve people gathered together and decided they were going to have a church. Twelve.

You could seat them all at a good long supper table and still have room for the biscuits. Their names deserve to be said out loud: Mr. and Mrs. N.

M. Bandy, Mr. Banteau, Miss May Boone, Judge and Mrs.

R. J. Browning, Mr. and Mrs.

Buck McEwen, Mr. and Mrs. E. A.

Ransom, and Mr. and Mrs. Windy Turner. That right there is your founding congregation of the First Christian Church of Seymour, Baylor County, Texas.

Twelve souls, one purpose. Now, they didn't have a building yet, so they did what you do on the frontier. They borrowed one.

Early services were held in the Baylor County Courthouse, which, when you think about it, is not the worst arrangement. A little law, a little gospel, same building. Later on, a rock building nearby got pressed into service as well.

But these folks had bigger plans. By 1884, cooperating with the Masonic Lodge, the church body erected a two-story building. Two stories.

For a congregation that had started with twelve members just a few years before, that is a statement of faith if ever there was one. And they still weren't finished. Come 1906 and into 1907, they built the church that stands today.

Gothic revival style, built of local stone, the kind of stone this part of Texas has never been short on. Somebody had an eye for beauty and the patience to see it through. That building has been standing on this ground ever since, telling its own story in stone, long after the voices of those original twelve have gone quiet.

What the marker says

Organized March 1880 with 12 members: Mr. and Mrs. N. M. Bandy, Mr. Banteau, Miss May Boone, Judge and Mrs. R. J. Browning, Mr. and Mrs. Buck McEwen, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Ransom, Mr. and Mrs. Windy Turner. Early services were held in Baylor County Courthouse. Later, rock building nearby was used. Cooperating with the Masonic Lodge, church body erected a 2-story building in 1884. Present Gothic revival church of local stone was built during 1906-1907. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970.