First Baptist Church of Canadian

Canadian's Baptists also ran a school. The Handbook of Texas says Canadian Academy, a Baptist coeducational institution, was established in 1901 and opened in 1903 with four teachers and twenty-seven students; a year later it had seven teachers and 117 students, and dormitories and a dining hall followed. In the spring of 1907 its science class dug at the newly found Buried City site south of Perryton. Supported only by gifts, fees and tuition, the academy could not compete with tax-supported schools and closed in 1913.

What the plaque says

This church was organized by seven women in 1894 with the help of the Rev. Hatcher, a Baptist minister from Amarillo. Shortly thereafter, about 32 people, converted at a local revival held by the Rev. Abe Mulkey, joined the new congregation. Early services and Sunday School classes were held at several area locations until 1911 when a brick sanctuary was completed. The congregation erected a fellowship hall and education building in 1954 and a new sanctuary in 1960. The church has grown with the community and continues to support various outreach and missionary projects. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Citadelle Art Museum — steps away
  A 1910 Baptist church saved from demolition in 1977, made into a family home filled with art, and given to Canadian in 2009 as one of the Panhandle's few art museums.
• River Valley Pioneer Museum — 0.4 mi
  The Hemphill County museum in Canadian, a Santa Fe division town of 1887 on the river breaks that held one of the first commercial rodeos in Texas and voted itself dry in 1903.
• Canadian River Wagon Bridge — 1.3 mi
  The longest pin-connected bridge in Texas, 3,255 feet of Parker trusses across the Canadian River at Canadian, built for wagons in 1916 and reopened as a footpath in 2000.
• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 5.0 mi
  Five thousand acres of sand sage and cottonwood bottomland along the Canadian River east of Canadian, bought by the state in 1950 for wildlife research and open to walkers with a permit.

More markers nearby

• First Church Bell — steps away
• R. Dick Bussell — steps away
• John Hemphill — steps away
• Mary B. Isaacs — 0.3 mi