Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Kaufman County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a ways. We're talkin' 1860, the Civil War era, when somebody looked around Kaufman County and decided a congregation needed to take root.

And take root it did. Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church organized that year, making it one of the oldest active churches in the entire county. Think about that word: active.

Not a ruin, not a memory; still going. That's a long burn. The original home was a one-room log cabin, sitting out about a mile and a half west of here near Mt.

Olive Cemetery. Now that cabin wasn't just a house of worship; it pulled double duty as a school. The Rev.

E. S. Colthorp was the first pastor to stand at the front of that modest room and hold things together.

For decades, the congregation gathered there. But by 1896, something was pulling them eastward: a growing railroad town called Scurry. So they came here.

The land they built on was donated by a man named D. L. Ford, and that first building on this very site was generous in its own right; shared with other denominations and, once again, with a school.

This congregation had a habit of making room for others. Then in 1918, they raised a two-story structure, which is no small thing for any community. And if you thought that was the final chapter, well, it wasn't.

The present sanctuary wasn't completed until 1968. Over a hundred years of building, movin', sharin', and stayin'. Mount Olive didn't just survive Kaufman County history.

It helped make it.

What the marker says

Organized in 1860 during the Civil War era, this is one of the oldest active churches of Kaufman County. It was originally located at Mt. Olive Cemetery (1.5 mi. W) in a one-room log cabin which was also used for a school. The Rev. E. S. Colthorp served as the first pastor. The congregation moved here in 1896 to the growing railroad town of Scurry. The first building at this site, on land donated by D. L. Ford, was shared with other denominations and a school. A 2-story structure was built in 1918 and the present sanctuary was completed in 1968.