First Baptist Church of Fort Davis

By 1904 the town had climbed back to 1,061 people, and by 1914 it had a Commercial Club. Around 1900 its mild summers made it a resort for wealthy Gulf Coast families. About 1908 the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway proposed a line to Fort Davis, but residents protested that it would bring in low-class people, and it was never built. In the late 1920s Oklahoma oilmen planned to make the town a Western movie center starring Jack Hoxie, until the Depression ended the plan.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Fort Davis The Rev. L. R. Millican and the Rev. D. B. Rose established this church in 1896 with six charter members. Services were held on alternate Sundays in churches shared with the Methodist and Presbyterian congregations until 1921 when the Baptists acquired a former skating rink/theater. A more traditional church building was erected in 1942. The congregation sponsored two mission churches and several missionaries in Mexico and is active in community activities. The church has served the area for more than 100 years. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 0.7 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.
• Davis Mountains State Park & Indian Lodge — 2.3 mi
  A 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps park above Fort Davis, with the CCC's Skyline Drive, the white adobe Indian Lodge and a trail down to the old fort.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 4.9 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.
• McDonald Observatory — 9.5 mi
  The University of Texas observatory on Mount Locke, founded with a Paris, Texas banker's fortune, with star parties three nights a week under some of the darkest skies in the country.

More markers nearby

• Confederate President Jefferson Davis — steps away
• Old Fort Davis C. S. A. — steps away
• Jeff Davis County — steps away
• Hotel Limpia — steps away