Mount Zion Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Mount Zion Baptist Church, Taylor County. Now, every good story has a beginning, and this one starts with a man on a mission.

Reverend James Curry, a missionary out of Sherman, Texas, came to Abilene and organized this congregation in 1885. That's the root of it all. The oldest African American church in the city, planted right there in the soil of a young town still figurin' out what it wanted to be.

The Reverend James Lewis stepped in as first pastor, and that congregation gathered in a small house near the railroad tracks. You can picture it, can't you. The sound of trains rollin' through, and inside that little house, something else altogether takin' shape.

Something that intended to last. They met there, year after year, until about 1907, when a proper sanctuary went up at the corner of 4th and Cherry streets, down in the south part of town. A real building.

A real home. Then came 1940, and the church made its move to the north side of Abilene. A congregation that had already crossed a railroad track, raised a sanctuary, and outlasted doubt at every turn wasn't about to stop movin' forward.

Well over a century of Abilene history, and Mount Zion Baptist Church is still there, still servin' the community with a variety of programs. Some things, it turns out, are built to stay.

What the marker says

The Reverend James Curry, a missionary from Sherman, Texas, organized this congregation in 1885. It is the oldest African American church in the city. The Reverend James Lewis served as first pastor of the congregation, which met in a small house near the railroad tracks until about 1907, when a sanctuary was erected at the corner of 4th and Cherry streets in the south part of town. The church moved to the north side of town in 1940. A part of Abilene history for well over a century, Mount Zion Baptist Church continues to serve the community with a variety of programs. (1995)