First Baptist Church of El Paso

The congregation formed in a town the railroads were remaking. Most historians call the arrival of the railroads in 1881 and 1882 the most significant event in El Paso's history: it turned an adobe village of several hundred people into the county seat by 1883 and a city of more than 10,000 by 1890. The boomtown also earned the names Six Shooter Capital and Sin City, with saloons, dance halls and gambling houses lining the main streets. Reformers campaigned through the 1890s, and in 1905 the city closed its gambling halls and houses of prostitution by ordinance.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of El Paso The first meeting of Baptists in El Paso was held on August 26, 1882, at the home of Maj. and Mrs. W. F. Fewel, under the leadership of the Rev. George Baines, Jr. One week later he directed the formation of this congregation, which was chartered with 22 members. The first sanctuary, constructed in 1885 at Magoffin and San Antonio, served until 1906 when new facilities were occupied at Magoffin and Virginia. In 1922 First Baptist merged with Central Baptist Church and moved to this location. Through its missions, First Baptist Church has started 12 other churches in El Paso and Juarez. 1983

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 0.7 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Chamizal National Memorial — 1.8 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 11 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.
• Tigua Indian Cultural Center, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo — 11 mi
  The cultural center of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, the Tigua nation that has lived in the Mission Valley of El Paso since 1682 and keeps its own history here.

More markers nearby

• First Christian Church of El Paso — steps away
• William Ward Turney and Iva Guthrie Turney — 0.3 mi
• El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Building — 0.5 mi
• Olga Kohlberg — 0.5 mi