North Liberty Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight from the record. Now, some stories come with a neat beginning, a date stamped right on the front page. This one doesn't.

No records survive to tell us exactly when North Liberty Baptist Church first took root out here in Hopkins County. But here's what we do know. Back in 1875, two men, Elders B.

H. Elder and G. L.

Smith, called a meeting in the nearby township of Tarrant. What came out of that meeting was a reorganization of the fellowship, a congregation pulling itself together with fresh purpose. That's where our story picks up.

The church building itself came along later, erected sometime in the 1890s, about a mile from where you'd find it today. In those days it went by Liberty Baptist Church, plain and simple. But then came 1946, and somebody noticed there was another church carrying that same name somewhere in the area.

Can't have two outfits answering to the same call, so the congregation made a decision, added one word up front, and North Liberty Baptist Church is what it's been called ever since. Then in 1952, the whole structure, the building itself, was moved to this very site, land that belonged to a man named Daniel Debord. Now, land changes hands in different ways out here in Texas.

Sometimes it's sold, sometimes it's contested. This time it was given. In 1966, Dalby Debord, Daniel's own grandson, and his wife Pat donated that land to the church.

No records mark the beginning. But the land, the name, and the congregation, those are still here to speak for it.

What the marker says

No records date the founding of this church, but a meeting led by Elders B. H. Elder and G. L. Smith in the nearby township of Tarrant resulted in reorganization of the fellowship in 1875. This church building was erected in the 1890s about one mile from here. Then called Liberty Baptist Church, the congregation added "North" in 1946 to avoid confusion with another church of that name in the area. The structure was moved to this site, owned by Daniel Debord, in 1952. Dalby Debord, grandson of Daniel, and his wife Pat donated the land to the church in 1966.