First Baptist Church of Lockney

Lockney itself began in 1889, when settlers from Della Plain went looking for better water. A post office came in 1890, named by district surveyor H. C. Knight for J. H. Lockney, father of the settler J. F. Lockney. For several years the place was little more than a store and post office, until J. A. Baker gave land in 1894 for a new townsite and school a mile to the west. The town incorporated in 1908, A. F. Reagan opened a business school in 1906, and by 1911 Judge William McGehee had drilled a pioneering irrigation well.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Lockney Led by The Rev. I. B. Kimbrough, nineteen charter members organized the First Missionary Baptist Church of Floyd County in December 1890. Early worship services were held in R. M. Irick's dugout home and the Irick Schoolhouse southwest of Lockney. In 1899 the congregation merged with Lockney Baptist Church of Lone Star but retained the name First Missionary Baptist Church of Floyd County. The congregation met in the town schoolhouse until a sanctuary was built in 1906. The name was changed to First Baptist Church of Lockney in 1913. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway — 30 mi
  Red canyons below the Caprock escarpment where the Texas State Bison Herd, descended from calves Mary Ann Goodnight saved in 1878, has right of way on the park roads.

More markers nearby

• First Methodist Church of Lockney — steps away
• The J. A. Baker Store — steps away
• John Ellison Burns — 0.2 mi
• Della Plain — 7.7 mi