Mineral Springs Primitive Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mineral Springs Primitive Baptist Church, out in Somervell County. Now settle in, because this one's got some roots. It starts on a Sunday.

May 30, 1886, to be exact. Elder Wilson Hufner and W. L.

Rogers gathered folks together in a place called Post Oak and founded this church. The charter members were a small but faithful bunch: J. O.

Soap, his wife Rebecca, and a Mrs. Fannie May. Three people and a whole lot of conviction.

Now, every church needs a home association, and this one first joined the Village Creek Association. But things were growin' out on the Texas frontier, and by 1899, this congregation joined with fifteen other area churches to form something bigger. Something that would matter.

They called it the Duffau Association, and it became the largest Primitive Baptist Church Association in the entire state of Texas. Fifteen churches, one vision, and a name that still carries weight. The congregation needed a proper house of worship, and in 1906 they built one, right there in Post Oak.

But around 1920, that building picked itself up, so to speak, and was moved to this very site. That's the Texas way: you don't always leave a good thing where you found it. Then came 1948, and the Roden family made a gift that changed what this place could become.

They donated eight acres to the Duffau Association. Eight acres of Texas ground, given freely, opening the door to what came next. Because in 1955, Elder Berley Welch and his wife Treasure, coming all the way down from Wichita Falls, founded the Texas Youth Camp right here and began holdin' summer camps on these grounds.

Treasure and Berley Welch. You couldn't invent names like that if you tried, and you wouldn't need to. And finally, in 1960, the present sanctuary itself was moved here, settling into its place on donated land, beside a youth camp built on faith, carrying a founding story that goes all the way back to one Sunday in May of 1886.

Some things, once they take root, just keep growin'.

What the marker says

On Sunday, May 30, 1886, Elder Wilson Hufner and W. L. Rogers founded this church in nearby Post Oak. Charter members were J. O. Soap, his wife, Rebecca, and Mrs. Fannie May. The church first joined the Village Creek Association, but in 1899 joined 15 other area churches to form the Duffau Association, the largest Primitive Baptist Church Association in Texas. A church house built in Post Oak in 1906 was moved to this site ca. 1920. In 1948, the Roden family donated eight acres to the Duffau Association. Beginning in 1955, Elder Berley Welch and his wife, Treasure, of Wichita Falls founded the Texas Youth Camp and held summer camps here. The present sanctuary was moved here in 1960.