First Baptist Church of Malakoff

In 1925 First Baptist opened a Hispanic mission in a town where, the Handbook of Texas says, lignite mines had become the county's largest industry. Mining began after the discovery of 1912, and the operations were consolidated as the Malakoff Fuel Company. By the 1920s they employed more than 600 people, including many Mexican Americans, and Texas Power and Light built a coal-fired station nearby. In October 1942 the power company decided to convert to natural gas. The fuel company began laying off workers and closed in 1945, and the town fell to 1,283 by 1950.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Malakoff The St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad built a line through Malakoff in 1880. In 1883 a Union church organized by the Reverend Hezekiah Mitcham, which served both Baptist and Methodists, relocated to a site near the railroad. According to local legend, denominational differences which occurred within the church established by Mitcham resulted in thirty-six of its members establishing this Baptist church in 1884. They called themselves the Missionary Baptist Church of Christ. A church building was erected in early 1885 on a town lot owned by W. L. Evans and in 1891 a Sunday School was organized. The sanctuary also served as a community center and provided classroom space on a temporary basis. A new sanctuary was erected at this site in 1894 on land donated by W. A. Martin of Missouri. Membership in the congregation had grown to 152 by 1917, and in 1918 a new frame church building was erected here. The congregation established a Hispanic mission in 1925. The 1918 church building was replaced with a new brick sanctuary in 1954. The congregation added a parsonage in 1964, an education building in 1971, an auditorium in 1982 and homes for a Hispanic mission in 1990. The church continues to serve the community with various programs and activities. (1995)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Purtis Creek State Park — 13 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 15 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.
• Petroleum Industry Park — 27 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.

More markers nearby

• First United Methodist Church of Malakoff — 0.3 mi
• Malakoff Man — 4.9 mi
• The Trinity River — 4.9 mi
• Payne Springs Methodist Church and Cemetery — 8.2 mi