Long Branch Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Eastland County, there's a little congregation with a story that goes back more than a hundred years. It starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with a donated piece of land.

A man named R.B. Covington gave that ground, and on July 16, 1885, the Long Branch Baptist Church was formally organized. Thirteen charter members.

That's it. Thirteen people who decided that what this community needed was a church, and they were going to be the ones to build it. They didn't have a sanctuary yet, not by a long shot.

They held their first worship services in an old schoolhouse, right there on Covington's donated land. You make do with what you have. That's a Texas tradition older than the state itself.

Their first minister was a man named W.B. Cobb, and he served those thirteen souls until August of 1886. After that, missionary pastors carried the load, riding in to hold monthly services year after year, keeping that little congregation together through whatever the calendar threw at them.

Then came 1905 and 1906, and the congregation did something that declared to the whole surrounding area that they intended to stay. They built their first sanctuary, right here on this site. From thirteen people in a borrowed schoolhouse to a church of their own, standing on land that had been waiting for them all along.

The Long Branch Baptist Church has been serving this community and the country around it ever since. Some roots go deep. These are some of them.

What the marker says

Formally organized on July 16, 1885, the Long Branch Baptist Church held its first worship services in an old schoolhouse on land donated by R.B. Covington. The thirteen charter members were served by W.B. Cobb, the church's first minister, until August 1886. Missionary pastors continued to hold monthly services over the years. The congregation, which built its first sanctuary on this site in 1905-06, has provided significant service to the Long Branch Community and the surrounding area throughout its history. (1985)