Mt. Canaan Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. After emancipation, something began to stir in Paris, Texas. Men and women, former slaves, started gathering.

Not in grand buildings, not with formal ceremony, just people finding each other, finding faith, and quietly, stubbornly, practicing rights they had never before been permitted to claim. Baptist theology drew them in, the marker tells us, with its egalitarian notion of redemption and its informal nature of worship. That combination, it seems, spoke directly to people who had been told for too long that they did not belong.

These informal congregations took root first out in the northwest part of Paris, in a neighborhood at Chisum's Ranch. Prayer gatherings, humble and temporary, held among the houses of the African American community there. Now, you might think that was the end of the beginning.

But then the railroad came. The homes were demolished to make way for it, and those displaced residents had to find somewhere new. They settled in southern Paris, right next to a cottonseed oil mill, a compress, and cotton processing plants.

This new neighborhood took the name the TP community, on account of its closeness to the Texas and Pacific Railroad. And it was here, in 1886, that Reverend Sam McCarley formally established Mt. Canaan Baptist Church.

The railroad and the booming cotton industry employed many Black residents in the area. For a time, the congregation had no building to call its own. Worship services were held in members' houses, which is about as close to those original prayer gatherings as you can get.

That continued until 1900, when the current church was built, under the leadership of Reverend J.B. Adkins. Mt.

Canaan became something more than a house of worship. It became the heart of a community that included mill workers, cotton ginners, and teachers at nearby Bankhead Elementary School, the only school in all of Paris for African American students. These were the marginalized people of the TP community, and Mt.

Canaan was theirs. In 1939, the congregation purchased more land and remodeled the church. Decades passed, and in 1970, more renovations followed, a baptism annex, cement steps, a back porch.

But here's the thing the marker takes care to point out: despite all of that, the building itself remains largely unchanged. The same structure that rose in 1900 is still standing. Mt.

Canaan Baptist Church continues to serve its historic community. Some things, it turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

Following emancipation, several Paris black free men and women formed informal congregations to practice their new spiritual rights. These former slaves found Baptist theology, with its egalitarian notion of redemption and informal nature of worship, especially appealing. Mt. Canaan Baptist church originated in temporary prayer gatherings held in the African American community at the area of Chisum’s Ranch, a neighborhood in northwest Paris. When the homes were demolished to make way for a new railroad, the displaced residents settled in southern Paris next to the cottonseed oil mill, compress, and cotton processing plants. This new African American neighborhood, called the TP community because of its proximity to the Texas & Pacific Railroad, was where Rev. Sam McCarley formally established Mt. Canaan Baptist Church in 1886. The railroad and the booming cotton industry employed many blacks in the area. Worship services were held in members’ houses until the current church was built in 1900 under the leadership of Rev. J.B. Adkins. Mt. Canaan catered to the marginalized African Americans of the TP community, including mill workers, cotton ginners, and teachers at nearby Bankhead Elementary School, the only school in Paris for African American students. In 1939, the congregation purchased more land and remodeled the church. More renovations followed in 1970, including a baptism annex, cement steps, and a back porch. Despite these additions, the building itself remains largely unchanged. Mt. Canaan Baptist Church continues to serve its historic community.