Union Lee 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 rural Travis County, there's a congregation with roots that go back further than most folks around here can remember, and the marker for Union Lee Baptist Church lets us in on the story. According to oral tradition, this church didn't start with four walls and a steeple.

It started outside, under the open Texas sky, with people gathering together for worship back in 1874. No building, no pews. Just faith and a patch of ground.

Now, that's a beginning worth savin'. Then comes 1884, and things start taking shape in a real way. Leonard Eck donated land.

The B. J. Lee family gave a building.

And the church was formally organized, with the Reverend Anthony Winn serving as pastor. Three gifts, one community, one congregation. You couldn't plan a founding much cleaner than that.

The church grew for several decades after that, and by 1916, the congregation had outgrown where it was and moved to a new property. That land came from M. M. and Josephine Mitchell and G.

A. Mitchell, who donated the acreage that the church would call home. Then, in 1928 and 1929, something else took shape on the northwest corner of that same land.

A Rosenwald school was built there, put up to serve students in this rural part of Travis County. Education right next to the church. Community holding itself up from the inside.

And that thread, education and community assistance, has run all the way through Union Lee Missionary Baptist Church from those outdoor worship services right on up to today. The marker calls it an important part of the area's cultural heritage, and looking at everything that ground has held, it's hard to argue with that.

What the marker says

According to oral tradition, this congregation began meeting together for outdoor worship services in 1874. In 1884, Leonard Eck donated land, the B. J. Lee family gave a building, and the church was formally organized with the Rev. Anthony Winn as pastor. In 1916, after several decades of growth, the congregation moved to this property, donated by M. M. and Josephine Mitchell and G. A. Mitchell. In 1928-1929, a Rosenwald school was built on the northwest corner of the church's acreage to serve students in this rural part of Travis County. Throughout its history, Union Lee Missionary Baptist Church has carried out ministries of education and community assistance and remains an important part of the area's cultural heritage. (2001)