First Baptist Church of Junction

Texas Baptists read a paper born in controversy. The Baptist Standard began as the Baptist News at Honey Grove in December 1888 and moved to Dallas in 1889, where its editors sided with pastor R. T. Hanks against Samuel A. Hayden of the rival Texas Baptist and Herald. In 1892 M. V. Smith and James B. Cranfill bought it for $3,000 as a "peace paper" with 6,000 subscribers and renamed it. George W. Truett's group bought it in 1909, and in 1914 it passed to the Baptist General Convention of Texas; by 1990 it reached 300,000 homes.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Junction In 1880, several local residents met at the courthouse to organize a Baptist church. The Rev. Z.M. Wells, pastor at Menardville (Menard), led the group and continued conducting services monthly. Four years later, the courthouse burned, and Junction residents erected a community church building, used on a rotating basis. In 1887, the Baptist congregation built a white, frame sanctuary on this site. Members built a Spanish-style building here in 1929 and then a brick structure in 1959. As the church has grown, it has also added other facilities. Over the years, members have served the community through mission work, worship, music and service programs. (2005)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimble County Historical Museum — 1.0 mi
  A free county museum in Junction, the town at the meeting of the North and South Llano, with the papers, photographs and tools of a ranching county.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 27 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Fort McKavett State Historic Site — 31 mi
  The post Sherman called the prettiest in Texas, home to soldiers of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and then to a town that lived in its buildings until 1973.

More markers nearby

• College Street Church of Christ — steps away
• Site of First Livery Stable — steps away
• First United Methodist Church of Junction — steps away
• O.C. Fisher — steps away