First Presbyterian Church of Baird

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Presbyterian Church of Baird. Now settle in, because this one starts small, the way the best stories do. Six people.

Just six. On June 26, 1885, six members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church gathered in the town of Baird under the Reverend F. E.

Leach, and they organized what would become the First Presbyterian Church of Baird. Six souls, one reverend, and a town that was itself only five years old at the time. Young town, young congregation, starting from scratch on the Texas plains.

You get the feeling everybody out there was building something from nothing all at once. Then comes 1906. That's the year the Cumberland branch and the northern branch of the church were united, two streams of the same faith finally flowing together into one.

And if you're looking for the capstone of this story, well, it comes in 1910, when the congregation raised up the building that still stands today. Started with six people and a preacher in a five-year-old town, and ended up with walls and a roof meant to last. That's not a small thing.

That's a congregation that knew exactly what it was building toward.

What the marker says

Organized June 26, 1885, by six members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, under the Rev. F. E. Leach. Town of Baird was then five years old. In 1906, the Cumberland and "northern" branches of the church were united. The present building was erected in 1910. (1969)