DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Steiner Baptist Church, Bosque County — and friend, this one's got fire, flood, and a mule team that changed everything. It starts back in 1891, in a little place called Fowler, where a congregation gathered and called themselves Fowler Baptist Church.
They weren't in a proper building yet — that came in 1906, when a man named Joe Yates donated the property and they put up their first real structure. Now, you'd think that was the end of the hard part. You'd be wrong.
The very next year, 1907, fire took the building down. Completely. So they rebuilt it, right there, the following year, and pressed on.
In 1916 the town of Fowler changed its name to Steiner, and the church followed suit — Steiner Baptist Church from that day forward. Then in 1940 it merged with Cedron Creek Baptist Church of Christ, and things seemed settled. Seemed.
Because 1950 brought the creation of Lake Whitney, and the whole town of Steiner was compelled to evacuate. The whole town. And this congregation was not about to leave their church behind.
So they did what Texans do when the situation calls for it — they hitched up mule teams and wagons, and they moved that church building down the road. Now here's where it gets good. They're rolling along, mules straining, congregation probably holding their breath, and they come up on a bridge.
And that bridge — it wasn't going to let them cross. The church was too big, or the bridge too narrow, or fate just had a say in the matter, because it was decided right there that the church would stay put. At the roadside.
At its present location. A congregation that survived fire in 1907, a name change in 1916, a merger in 1940, and a lake that swallowed their whole town in 1950 — stopped, in the end, by a bridge. And that's exactly where they stayed.
What the marker says
Steiner Baptist Church Steiner Baptist Church began in 1891 in the town of Fowler as Fowler Baptist Church. The church’s first structure was built in 1906 on property donated by Joe Yates, but a fire destroyed the building in 1907 and it was rebuilt the following year. When the name of the town was changed to Steiner in 1916, the church took the name Steiner Baptist Church, and it merged with Cedron Creek Baptist Church of Christ in 1940. The town of Steiner was compelled to evacuate in 1950 because of the creation of Lake Whitney and the church was moved at that time with mule teams and wagons. However, because it was unable to cross a nearby bridge, it was decided that the church would remain at the roadside, at its present location.