Barry Baptist Church

A church history on the Navarro County site follows the congregation after the plaque's account. Members voted to start Sunday School work in March 1895 and to build a house of worship that June; it was finished in 1897, the year an organ was bought. A baptistery was installed in 1927, and in March 1935 the congregation voted to cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention and added art glass windows. A parsonage followed in 1953, and in September 1971 members voted to support a Billy Graham crusade in Dallas.

What the plaque says

Barry Baptist Church The Barry Baptist Church congregation, originally organized as the Elam Baptist Church congregation, was established in September 1891 with seven charter members. The Rev. C. R. Roberts became the congregation's first pastor in June of 1892. Early services were held in a church structure one block northeast of this site. The congregation quickly became involved in county and statewide Baptist church affairs, affiliating with the Navarro County Baptist Association of the Baptist Convention of Texas in July 1892. Additionally, the congregation was able to institute a Sunday School program by 1895, under the leadership of J. M. Head, who served as first Sunday School superintendent. In 1916-17, during the pastorate of the Rev. A. W. Luper, the congregation built its second church structure at this site. Worship services have been held at this location since December of 1917. The Barry Baptist Church congregation has been involved in a variety of missionary activities over the years, concentrating on local mission programs, and it has played a prominent role in this community for over one hundred years. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroleum Industry Park — 10 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 23 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.
• Ellis County Courthouse — 23 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.

More markers nearby

• Barry — steps away
• Grange Hall Cemetery — 3.7 mi
• Blooming Grove United Methodist Church — 4.6 mi
• City of Blooming Grove — 4.7 mi