First Baptist Church of Mexia

The congregation grew up with a railroad town. The Handbook of Texas says Mexia was laid out in 1870 by a railroad townsite company that sold lots in 1871. The post office opened in 1872 and the legislature incorporated the town in 1873. By 1880 it had four schools, three churches and about 1,800 residents. By 1885 it had a gas works, an opera house, two banks and two sawmills. The Mexia Democrat began in 1887, and the Trinity and Brazos Valley line of 1904 to 1906 made the town a crossroads for farmers.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Mexia Organized Jan. 14, 1872, by the Rev. W. Henry Parks. Some charter members came from Springfield Church (founded 1846), as that town was bypassed by Houston and Texas Central Railroad in 1871 and absorbed by Mexia. After meeting at first in a lodge hall, congregation built a church in 1873. Four buildings have been erected on this site. Thirty-two pastors have served this church. The congregation has helped found two other churches. It also has sent out missionaries Mildred Cox Mein (Brazil, 1934-71) and John E. Mills (Africa, 1947- ). 1972

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site — 5.8 mi
  Where Limestone County Confederate veterans gathered each summer from 1888, later a water supplier in the Mexia oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site on the Navasota River.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 8.0 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.
• Old Fort Parker — 9.1 mi
  A rebuilt 1830s family stockade near the Navasota River, where a May 1836 attack killed men of the Parker settlement and took five captives, among them nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker.

More markers nearby

• Origin of the Texas State Teachers Association — steps away
• Town Named for Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia — 0.2 mi
• Alfonso Steel — 0.6 mi
• Albert R. Mace — 0.6 mi