Damascus Missionary Baptist Church

The missionary who organized this church was past fifty when he came to Texas. Israel S. Campbell, born in Russellville, Kentucky, in 1815, had ministered in Canada and was ordained there in 1855. In August 1866 he and I. Rhinehart organized Houston's Antioch Baptist Church, and in 1867 he reorganized Galveston's African Baptist Church, which the Handbook of Texas counts the state's first fully independent Black Baptist congregation; it grew from 47 members to about 500 under him. Known as the "father of black Baptists in Texas," he retired in 1891 and died at La Marque in 1898.

What the plaque says

Damascus Missionary Baptist Church This congregation traces its history to 1866, when the Rev. I. S. Campbell was sent by the National Baptist Convention to organize African American churches in Texas immediately following the Civil War. Assisted by Joseph Smalley, Campbell organized Damascus Missionary Baptist Church to serve residents of the West End and Chaneyville neighborhoods, later part of Houston's Sixth Ward. The Rev. Thomas Louis Hansborough served as the first pastor of the new church, which met in the home of a member until a sanctuary was built at Center and Leverkuhn streets. In 1885, church trustees purchased property on the west side of Court Street, near Center Street, and a new church building was erected at the site in 1893. The structure was destroyed by storms in 1900 and 1915 and was rebuilt each time. The congregation purchased nearby property at 3122 Center Street in 1926 and new structures were erected at the site in 1939 and 2007. Throughout its history, Damascus Missionary Baptist Church has served the community with missionary, worship, educational and civic outreach programs. Auxiliary organizations organized by members of the congregation include the Business and Professional Women of Damascus, The Damascus Christian Education Committee and the Willing Workers organization. A scholarship fund, a bereavement ministry and a food and clothing pantry have also been established by the congregation to provide Christian outreach to the community. Some church members represent families who have been associated with the congregation from the time of its organization. (1992, 2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — 1.4 mi
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.
• Rothko Chapel — 2.3 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.
• The Menil Collection — 2.3 mi
  John and Dominique de Menil's free museum in Montrose: a grey-sided Renzo Piano building among bungalows, holding antiquities, Surrealism and art of Oceania under natural light.
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — 2.5 mi
  A museum in Houston's 1925 Light Guard Armory that tells the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War onward, built from one veteran's thirty years of collecting.

More markers nearby

• Brown Chapel A. M. E. Church — steps away
• Howard Cottonseed Oil Company — 0.3 mi
• Houston Cemetery Company — 0.4 mi
• Eugene Thomas Heiner — 0.4 mi