First Baptist Church of Copperas Cove

Copperas Cove's size has followed the Army. The Handbook of Texas says the Depression closed the local bank and several businesses, and only 356 residents remained by the 1940s. Camp Hood arrived in the early 1940s, and the 1950 census counted 1,052 people. When the Army made Fort Hood permanent that year, the town grew to 4,567 by 1960 and 10,818 by 1970. Most newcomers came for jobs tied to the post or stayed after retiring from the military. This congregation was already sixty-five years old when the post became permanent.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Copperas Cove Organized in 1885 by the Reverend J. F. Baker and thirteen charter members, this congregation first met in a community schoolhouse. The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company provided a plot of land for one dollar on which the members built their first sanctuary in 1890. The second sanctuary, built in 1908 to serve the growing congregation, is still in existence and used for Sunday School classes. The churches has produced several missionaries, ministers, and full-time Christian service professionals as it continues to provide important ministries to the community.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hancock Springs Park — 17 mi
  Lampasas's city park on Sulphur Creek, with a spring-fed swimming pool that holds about 69 degrees all year, the walls of the old bathhouse and a golf course.
• Mother Neff State Park — 29 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• Ogletree Stagestop and Post Office — 2.1 mi
• Clear Creek Baptist Church — 3.5 mi
• Immanuel Lutheran Church — 3.5 mi
• Boys Ranch of Copperas Cove — 5.0 mi