St. Stephen's Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in the communities of Waters Park, Round Rock, and Pflugerville, something was taking root in 1887. A congregation was organizing.

Their first meeting place was a small wooden building, nothing grand, nothing permanent, but it was theirs, and it sat near this very site. The Rev. Stephens Smith stepped up as their first pastor, and the work began.

Now, a church needs more than faith to stand. It needs land. And that's where Mr. and Mrs.

Anderson Peoples come in. In 1887, they gave the land, a gift that would carry the weight of two institutions at once. A church, yes.

And a school. St. Stephen's School, also known as the Waters Park Colored School, was where black children in the area came to learn.

In a time and place when that opportunity wasn't handed out freely, that school mattered in ways that go deep. The congregation kept on. They kept gathering, kept serving, kept reaching into the community around them.

And then in 1978, they built a new sanctuary. Not a small wooden building this time. Something that could hold what they'd grown into.

That church is still standing, still reaching, still running outreach programs for a large community. Started with a piece of donated land and a first pastor in 1887, and it never did stop moving forward.

What the marker says

Organized in 1887, this congregation first met in a small wooden building near this site. The Rev. Stephens Smith served as first pastor of the church, which served residents of the Waters Park, Round Rock, and Pflugerville communities. Land for a church and school was given by Mr. and Mrs. Anderson Peoples in 1887. St. Stephen's School, also known as Waters Park Colored School, provided education for black children in the area. A new sanctuary was built in 1978. This church continues to serve a large community with outreach programs.