First Baptist Church in Carbon

Carbon took its name from the mineral deposits around it. N. S. Hayes, or Haynes, bought the first lot on the townsite in 1881, built a store and became postmaster when the post office opened in 1882. By 1889 Carbon counted as one of the six principal towns in Eastland County, and in 1897 it ran third in the county-seat election. In 1904 it had a gin, a lumberyard, a school, a bank, several churches, a Masonic lodge and 600 residents. The Carbon Herald, which carried all the county court news, was called the local paper for Eastland County.

What the plaque says

Organized under a brush arbor soon after the founding of the town of Carbon, this congregation traces its history to 1885. The Rev. W.B. Cobb served as first pastor of the church, which began with twelve charter members. Through the years the congregation has grown and established organizations such as the Woman's Missionary Society and youth programs. Members of the church have participated in area missionary activities. First Baptist Church has been part of the history of Carbon for over one hundred years. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Rip at the Eastland County Courthouse — 9.2 mi
  A horned lizard in a glass-topped casket in the 1928 Eastland courthouse, the creature said to have come out alive from the old building's cornerstone after thirty-one years.
• Conrad Hilton Center and Mobley Hotel — 12 mi
  The 40-room oil-boom hotel in Cisco that Conrad Hilton bought in 1919 when a bank deal fell through, now a museum of the Hilton start and of Cisco's 1927 Santa Claus bank robbery.

More markers nearby

• Mangum Baptist Church — 4.0 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Eastland — 9.2 mi
• Early Settlers of Eastland County — 9.2 mi
• Camp Salmon, C.S.A. — 9.2 mi