Sardis Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Sardis Baptist Church, out in Rusk County. Pull over a spell, because this one's got some quiet staying power to it. Back in the 1850s, several families put down roots in a stretch of East Texas that folks came to know as Pleasant Grove.

Some called it by another name entirely: Shake Rag. Now the marker doesn't explain that name, and honestly, it doesn't need to. Shake Rag.

You just let that sit there and it does its own work. Come 1911, the community organized a Baptist Church, and in those early days the congregation met in the Pleasant Grove school house, sharing the space with the Methodist church. Two flocks, one roof.

That kind of arrangement says something about the people who made it work. Then came 1921, and a couple named Rufus and Mary Allen did something worth remembering. They donated an acre and a half of land, and Rufus pulled lumber straight from his own sawmill to put up a proper church building.

Now here's the part that makes you sit up a little straighter: the deed expressly stated that the frame building would be shared by all denominations. That wasn't an accident or an afterthought. They wrote it right into the deed.

The first pastor to stand in that pulpit was Brother Deckert Anderson. The church kept on growing. In 1951, a Sunday School room was added.

But by 1958, the congregation had grown enough that the building was sold and a larger church was built to accommodate the membership. Communities in rural Texas have a way of fading, one by one, the school closing, the post office going quiet, the old gathering places giving way to grass and memory. Pleasant Grove, Shake Rag, however you knew it, followed that road.

Today, the church is all that remains of that community. One building, still standing, still holding the names of the families who settled there in the 1850s and the couple who donated the land and the lumber and put it all in writing. That's not a small thing.

That's the whole story.

What the marker says

In the 1850s, several families settled in an area that became Pleasant Grove, also known as Shake Rag. In 1911, the community organized a Baptist Church. The church met in the Pleasant Grove school house that was shared with the Methodist church. In 1921, Rufus and Mary Allen donated 1.5 acres and lumber from his sawmill for a church building. The deed expressly stated that the frame building would be shared by all denominations. The first pastor was Brother Deckert Anderson. In 1951, a Sunday School room was added, but in 1958, the building was sold and a larger church was built to accommodate the growing membership. The church is all that remains of this community. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011