Site of Original Building, First Baptist Church

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of this spot in Bexar County. On January 20th, 1861, a Missionary Pastor by the name of the Reverend John H. Thurmond organized the First Baptist Church right here.

Now, organizing a congregation is one thing. Giving it a home it can count on, that takes a little longer. For years, the church made do.

Then, between 1872 and 1877, they raised up something worth talking about: a two-story building, white limestone, forty feet wide and sixty feet long. The first permanent home. The parsonage sat right alongside it, close enough that the preacher never had far to walk on a Sunday morning.

This place held services, held community, held whatever a congregation holds onto through the years, all the way until 1905. That's when the church packed up and moved to a new site at 4th and Taylor. What stood here was the beginning, the limestone foundation of something that outlasted the building itself.

What the marker says

Organized Jan. 20, 1861, by Missionary Pastor, the Rev. John H. Thurmond. A two-story, 40' x 60' church of white limestone built 1872 to 1877 was the first permanent home. The parsonage adjoined. Services held here until 1905, when church moved to site at 4th and Taylor. (1967)