First Baptist Church of Bailey

Bailey never got big, which shaped what a church there meant. The Handbook of Texas counts about 300 residents around 1900, with two churches, a school, a bank, a hotel, one of the few picture shows in the county and a dozen businesses. The population peaked near 350 in the mid-1920s and sank to 198 by the mid-1950s. Bailey was the first town in the county to start a free school lunch program. By the 1970s farmers had given up cotton and corn for small grains and cattle, and the 1990 count was 187.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Bailey On May 23, 1888, a small group of neighbors met together at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Baywood Atkins to discuss forming a Baptist church. Assisted by the Rev. J. L. Mays and the Rev. R. L. Pearce, a congregation was begun with twelve charter members: Mr. and Mrs. Baywood Atkins, Mr. and Mrs. T. F. Gray, Dr. A. J. Ray, Mr. and Mrs. Elijah H. Smith, Mrs. Mary Branch Sisson, Mr. and Mrs. John Turner, Charles T. Turner, and George Turner. The group first met in the Portland schoolhouse, and the congregation was named Corinth Baptist Church. Services were held in the schoolhouse once a month until 1890, when the church relocated to its present site in Bailey. The name was changed to First Baptist Church of Bailey, and the congregation shared a building with the local Masonic lodge. In 1912 the church began construction of a new sanctuary, which was completed and dedicated in May 1913. It was used until 1940, when a larger brick building was erected. Over the years, the First Baptist Church of Bailey has actively served its community. A part of Fannin County history for over one hundred years, the church continues to be a vital part of the town of Bailey. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 9.7 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.
• Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum — 22 mi
  A Greenville museum of Hunt County's military heroes, including Audie Murphy, and of cotton, which keeps the engine of what it says was the world's largest inland cotton compress.
• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 30 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 32 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.

More markers nearby

• Ashley Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M. — steps away
• Portland — 1.4 mi
• Joseph F. Fenner — 3.0 mi
• Grove Hill — 3.0 mi