DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Pruitt Baptist Church and the community that grew up around it in Van Zandt County. Now settle in, because this one's got roots that run deep into East Texas soil. The town of Pruitt, the marker tells us, was named for Adelia Pruitt, the first postmistress.
That's right, a woman's name on the map, and a postmistress at that. The town got going in the 1880s, and it didn't stay small for long. By the time Pruitt hit its stride, it had a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a general store, a barber shop, a Woodmen of the World lodge, a drug store, a school, a Methodist church, and a congregational church.
That is a community with ambition. You could get your hair cut, your horse shod, your soul tended to, and your cotton ginned all in the same stretch of road. Now here's where the Baptist piece of this story takes hold.
In 1896, Malinda Ashworth and E. R. Crocker organized the Pruitt Baptist Church.
Those two names deserve saying out loud, because what they started is still standing. In 1912, a church building was erected for that Baptist congregation, one mile west of where the marker sits today. Then came 1947, and the sanctuary was moved.
And 1962 brought a new structure to replace it. Many additions have been made since then, and the church, through all of it, continues to serve the area. A postmistress gave the town its name.
Two organizers gave the church its beginning. And that church just kept right on going.
What the marker says
Named for Adelia Pruitt, the first postmistress, the town of Pruitt began in the 1880s. It included a cotton gin, blacksmith shop, general store, barber shop, Woodmen of the World lodge, drug store, school, Methodist church, and congregational church. The Pruitt Baptist Church was organized in 1896 by Malinda Ashworth and E. R. Crocker. In 1912 a church building was erected for the Baptist congregation one mile west of this site. The sanctuary was moved in 1947 and replaced with a new structure in 1962. Many additions have been made to the building. The church continues to serve the area. (1996)