DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church, out in Travis County. Now, some stories start with a grand building, a brass bell, stained glass catching the Sunday light.
This one starts with a brush arbor. And that right there ought to tell you something about the people who built it. Cast your mind back to the early twentieth century.
African American workers in the Pflugerville cotton industry were not allowed to buy property in town. Not invited, not welcomed — not allowed. So when a man named La Rue Noton, a farmer who owned around twelve hundred acres west of Pflugerville, set aside an acre and started selling lots to those workers for fifty dollars each, that was no small thing.
The settlement was recorded in county records as Pflugerville's colored addition. Before any of those lots changed hands, before the ink was dry on county records, the spirit of a congregation was already stirring. In 1909, Reverend Square Roberts held church services under a brush arbor on the Fritz Pfluger Farm in the colored addition.
No walls, no roof to speak of — just sky and faith and the sound of voices. A few months later, services moved into the schoolhouse. And then, in January of 1910, under Reverend Roberts' leadership, a Baptist church was formally organized.
At that first meeting, Sister Luella Henry stood up and suggested the name St. Mary Baptist Church. The motion carried.
Just like that, a name was given, and a congregation had an identity. In those early years, many pastors led the congregation — the marker doesn't name them all, and maybe that's fitting, because the story was always bigger than any one shepherd. In 1914, the church purchased the lot that would house its first actual building.
Construction stretched from 1914 to 1916, and when it was done, those workers who hadn't been allowed to own property in town had built something that stood on their own ground. Then came the late 1930s and early 1940s, during Reverend Nelson's tenure. The congregation decided the building needed to move — from the back lot to the front.
And with attendance on the rise, they remodeled and expanded it too. The church was growing, and the building had to keep up. They built more than walls, though.
An active Sunday school program took root. A Baptist training union was organized. Fellowship with other area churches spread the connections wider.
St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church was forging ties in the community, the kind that don't pull loose easy. From twenty members at the start — twenty souls gathered under a brush arbor — this church has grown to over four hundred.
More than a century of Sundays, more than a century of community. The marker calls it a beacon of light, and looking at where it came from, that's not just a pretty phrase. That's the whole story in four words.
What the marker says
In the early twentieth century, African American workers in the Pflugerville Cotton Industry were not allowed to buy property in town. In 1910, La Rue Noton, a farmer who owned around 1,200 acres west of Pflugerville, set aside an acre and sold lots to the workers for fifty dollars each. The settlement was recorded in county records as Pflugerville's colored addition. In 1909, Reverend Square Roberts held church services under a brush arbor on the Fritz Pfluger Farm in the colored addition. A few months later, services were held in the schoolhouse. In January 1910, under Reverend Roberts" leadership, a Baptist church was organized. In the first meeting, Sister Luella Henry suggested the name St. Mary Baptist Church and the motion carried. During the early years of the newly established church, many pastors led the congregation. In 1914, a lot was purchased that would house the first church building. The building was completed from 1914 to 1916. During Reverend Nelson's tenure in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the building was moved from the back lot to the front. Due to an increase in attendance, the church was remodeled and expanded. With an active Sunday school program, organization of the Baptist training union and a diversity fellowship with other area churches, St. Mary Missionary Baptist church has forged ties in the community. From humble beginnings and twenty members, this church has grown to over 400 members and has been a beacon of light in the community for over a century.