First Baptist Church of Claytonville

Claytonville grew up around a cotton gin. In the early 1950s M. C. Clayton, a cotton grower, moved his ginning business here from Bailey in Fannin County and built a grocery and cafe for his employees. The gin became a favorite gathering place for area farmers, the company hosted a community barbecue just before harvest for several years, and it was one of the first gins to compost its waste and return it to the fields. The assembly grounds where the church kept a cabin lie in Rio Blanco Canyon south of Floydada and opened in 1948.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Claytonville Organized as New Hope Baptist Church of Christ in 1891, this congregation changed its name in 1912 to Whitfield Baptist Church. It acquired a good church plant, a parsonage, and a cabin site at Plains Baptist Assembly Grounds. Steps began in 1960 to relocate on the paved highway in this new business community growing up around the cotton gin built in the 1950s by M. C. Clayton (1899-1963). The new church building -- first in the town -- was erected in 1962-63. The present name was adopted in 1964. Peak membership for the congregation has been 206. (1975)

Where it stands

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