DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Harris County. Now settle in, because this story starts with people on the move — and ends with a church that's still standing. In the 1870s, African American residents of Houston's Fourth Ward, the neighborhood known as Freedmantown, began making their way to the Third Ward.
And wherever a community plants itself, it reaches for something more than shelter. It reaches for a place to gather, to worship, to hold itself together. The need for a church arose.
That's where the story truly begins. According to oral tradition — and sometimes oral tradition carries the truest weight — an itinerant preacher by the name of the Reverend Wee W. Navigan gathered with several families in the summer of 1879.
Right there in the Third Ward, they established a church, and they gave it a name: Jordan Grove. Now, a church is only as enduring as the people who tend it. The Reverend Lorenzo Williams came along and served for two years.
Then came a man the congregation would not soon forget — the Reverend Jordan R. Lofton, born in 1858, who would lead Jordan Grove for forty-eight years. Forty-eight years.
Let that settle. Under Lofton's watch, the congregation purchased a lot at 2017 Dowling Street, and between 1893 and 1894 they raised a sanctuary on it. A real building.
A real home for the faith they'd been tending since 1879. But the Gulf Coast, as any Texan knows, doesn't always honor what you've built. The 1900 storm came through, and that sanctuary was destroyed.
Now, lesser congregations might have scattered. Jordan Grove did not. By 1910, a new structure rose on that same ground — a twin-tower frame building, standing like a declaration.
And here's the detail that'll stay with you: the cornerstones from both of those buildings, the one the storm took and the one that replaced it, are incorporated into the present church edifice on Anita Street. The past isn't buried at Jordan Grove. It's built right in.
Through the last half of the twentieth century, membership grew to fifteen hundred strong. New educational and outreach programs gave the church a presence in the community that couldn't be ignored. Its pastors rose to leadership in national denominational activities.
A number of its members went on into ordained ministry themselves — the congregation becoming, in a sense, a source as much as a destination. Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church stands today as an important part of African American history in Houston, carrying 1879 in its bones and a community in its arms, still very much in service.
What the marker says
As residents of the Fourth Ward neighborhood known as "Freedmantown" began moving to Houston's Third Ward in the 1870s, the need arose for a church to serve the spiritual needs of African Americans in the area. According to oral tradition, an itinerant preacher, the Rev. Wee W. Navigan met with several families in the summer of 1879 to establish a church in the Third Ward, which they named Jordan Grove. Subsequent pastors included the Rev. Lorenzo Williams, who served for two years, and the Rev. Jordan R. Lofton (1858-1936), who led the congregation for 48 years. Under Lofton's leadership, Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church built a sanctuary in 1893-94 on the lot they had purchased at 2017 Dowling. Destroyed in the 1900 storm, that building was replaced by a twin-tower frame structure in 1910. Cornerstones from each of these buildings are incorporated into the present church edifice on Anita Street. During the last half of the 20th century, membership grew to 1500 members; new educational and outreach programs gave Jordan Grove a strong presence in the community. Its pastors have been leaders in national denominational activities, and a number of its members have gone into the ordained ministry. An important part of African American history in Houston, Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church continues to stand in service to its members and the community. (2001)