First Baptist Church of Melissa

The plaque notes that a 1921 tornado destroyed the church, and the Handbook of Texas gives the toll for the town. On April 13, 1921, the storm killed thirteen people, injured fifty-four and demolished many businesses. Eight years later a fire burned many of the buildings that had been rebuilt. Melissa had been doing well, with electric lights, a telephone exchange and paved roads before 1920, plus five churches, a bank and two gins shipping 3,000 bales of cotton a year. The Depression, mechanized farming and jobs around Dallas after World War II slowed it afterward.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Melissa Organized as the Melissa Baptist Church of Christ on Oct. 18, 1884, this congregation began with 22 charter members. Levi Dunn served as first pastor. The fellowship met once a month until 1898, when services began to be held twice monthly. Weekly worship services began in 1948. A 1921 tornado destroyed the original church building, but by 1924 the congregation had erected a new sanctuary. Known since 1952 as the First Baptist Church of Melissa, the congregation has provided service and leadership to the community throughout its history. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 9.0 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 25 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 28 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.

More markers nearby

• Melissa School — 0.4 mi
• Melissa Cemetery — 1.3 mi
• Highland Cemetery — 2.1 mi
• Dr. William Edward Throckmorton — 2.5 mi