Union Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. In the 1880s, in a place called Cologne, a Freedman's Colony in Goliad County, Baptists came together and began building something that would outlast just about everything the Texas Hill Country could throw at it. What they built would eventually be known as the Union Missionary Baptist Church.

But the story doesn't start with that name. It starts, as so many good ones do, with a creek. It is believed that the church's early trustees constructed the first building right along Perdido Creek, back in 1884, and they called it St.

John. A modest beginning, maybe, but a beginning. Then, somewhere between 1886 and the 1930s, the congregation carried on in Cologne under a new name, Mt.

Carmel. Now, during that long stretch, the congregation split. That happens.

People are people, and a church community is no different from any other. But here is where the story turns, because eventually they found their way back to each other. What brought them back together?

A storm. In the 1930s, a storm damaged the Mt. Carmel church, and rather than scatter, the reunited congregation moved to Fannin and took a new name, one that said exactly what they were: Union Missionary.

United. Together. By 1950 they were restorin' the Fannin church, putting their hands to the work, and the members have worshiped in that very building ever since.

That is well over a century of strong faith and tenacity, right there along the Texas coastal plain. Some storms scatter people. This one brought them home.

What the marker says

UNION MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH IN THE 1880s, BAPTISTS IN COLOGNE, A FREEDMAN'S COLONY, ESTABLISHED WHAT WOULD BECOME THE UNION MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE CHURCH'S EARLY TRUSTEES BUILT THE FIRST CHURCH ALONG PERDIDO CREEK IN 1884 AND CALLED IT ST. JOHN. BETWEEN 1886 AND THE 1930s, THE CHURCH WAS LOCATED IN COLOGNE AS MT. CARMEL. ALTHOUGH THE CONGREGATION SPLIT DURING THAT PERIOD, THEY REUNITED IN FANNIN UNDER THE NAME UNION MISSIONARY AFTER A STORM DAMAGED THE MT. CARMEL CHURCH IN THE 1930s. IN 1950 THEY BEGAN RESTORING THE FANNIN CHURCH AND MEMBERS HAVE WORSHIPED IN THIS BUILDING EVER SINCE. THE CONGREGATION'S STRONG FAITH AND TENACITY HELPED THEM TO SERVE THE AREA FOR WELL OVER A CENTURY. (2012)