Round Timber Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Round Timber Baptist Church out in Baylor County. Now, somebody named this place Round Timber, and the marker tells us it was an unknown early settler who did the naming, inspired by a round clump of oaks sitting near the Salt Fork of the Brazos River. We don't know who that settler was.

That name and that clump of oaks, though, they stuck. The Stevens, Mills, and Hamby families arrived in 1874, and that arrival made Round Timber the first permanent Anglo settlement in all of Baylor County. First.

That's not a small thing out on that stretch of Texas ground. By 1879, the place had a store, a blacksmith shop, and a log school, and a man named Alex M. Burnham was appointed its first postmaster.

A church came along after that, and a cotton gin, and a doctor's office. Round Timber was filling out. Then, sometime in the mid-1890s, the whole community picked up and moved four miles to the northwest.

Four miles. Not far in today's reckoning, but moving a whole community is no casual afternoon. Now here's where the story of that church begins to take real shape.

By 1884, non-denominational Sunday services were already being held in Round Timber. People gathering, worshipping, not yet tied to any one name or creed. The first written mention of a Baptist congregation shows up in church minutes in September of 1890.

Written down, made official in ink. Then in 1898 the congregation changed its name, shedding the name Post Oak and taking on Round Timber Church instead, and it was later organized as a Missionary Baptist Church. On June 21, 1925, the church was officially named Round Timber Baptist Church, and it carried that name all the way until its closure in the early 1960s.

But there's another thread woven through here, and it's worth followin. Back in 1897, trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church purchased land, and a building project got underway that drew in members from all denominations across the community. They built a worship facility that same year, all of them together.

Eventually, though, the Methodists stopped holding services, and the marker is honest enough to say nobody knows exactly when that happened. What we do know is that in 1934 the building was sold to the trustees of the Round Timber Baptist Church. One congregation's ending became part of another congregation's story.

The church records show consistent work over the years, support of missions both foreign and local, and support of the Buckner Orphans Home. These were people who looked outward even from a small place on the Salt Fork of the Brazos. The church is closed now, has been since the early 1960s.

But here's the thing about Round Timber. The people haven't forgotten it. A community reunion has been held regularly since the 1950s for former citizens and descendants, and it is now held annually at the Round Timber Cemetery.

That clump of oaks drew somebody's eye once, somebody whose name we'll never know, and what grew from that moment is still gathering people together.

What the marker says

The Round Timber community was named by an unknown early settler for a nearby round clump of oaks located near the Salt Fork of the Brazos River. The community became Baylor County's first permanent Anglo settlement when the Stevens, Mills and Hamby families arrived in 1874. By 1879, Round Timber was the home of a store, blacksmith shop and log school, and Alex M. Burnham was appointed as the first postmaster. A church, cotton gin and doctor's office were later added. The community was moved four miles northwest in the mid-1890s. By 1884, non-denominational Sunday services were held in Round Timber. The first written mention of a Baptist congregation was made in church minutes in September 1890. In 1898, the congregation changed its name from Post Oak to Round Timber Church and was later organized as a Missionary Baptist Church. On June 21, 1925, the church was officailly named Round Timber Baptist Church, a name that was retained until the church's closure in the early 1960s. Land was purchased in 1897 by trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a building project that included members of the community from all denominations produced a worhsip facility later that year. Although it is not known when the Methodists stopped holding services, the building was sold to the trusees of the Round Timber Baptist Church in 1934. Church records show consistent activity in support of missions, both foreign and local, as well as support of the Buckner Orphans Home. A community reunion has been held regularly since the 1950s for former citizens and descendants of the community and is now held annually at the Round Timber Cemetery. (2009)