First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells

William Evander Penn was a lawyer before he was a preacher. Born in Tennessee in 1832, he served as a Confederate captain, was captured in 1864 and exchanged in 1865, and moved to Jefferson, Texas, in 1866 to practice law. He was ordained only in 1880. He wrote hymns and published the hymnal Harvest Bells in 1881. Called the Texas Evangelist, he also led revivals in other states, Scotland and England. About 1887 he moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, another spring-water town, and died there in 1895.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells, organized in 1882, grew out of an early revival. William Evander Penn, known as the "Texas Evangelist," conducted worship services in Palo Pinto County in 1882, and with 54 charter members he established the Mineral Wells Church. It would go on to host additional noted evangelists such as Billy Sunday, Mordecai Ham, Hyman Appleman, Rodney "Gypsy" Smith, and Texans J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett. The Rev. George Webb Slaughter, an early pastor of the church, was also instrumental in its organization. Ordained as a pastor in 1848, Slaughter had earlier served as a courier for Gen. Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution. The congregation first held services in a local schoolhouse before moving into a former Presbyterian church building in 1883. In 1900, members constructed a new church building, which served until 1920, when they built another sanctuary on the same site. In 1967, the congregation built its third house of worship here. Over the years, the First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells has been particularly active in missions and in community outreach. Members have established several mission churches, including East Side Baptist Church (now Calvary Baptist Church) in 1909, Lawn Terrace Baptist Church in 1947 and Bautista Mexicana (now Templo Bautista) in 1959. The congregation also co-sponsored a Cambodian mission at nearby Fort Wolters. Today, as a community and mission-minded institution, the First Baptist Church continues to be a vital part of Mineral Wells. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway — 4.3 mi
  A Cross Timbers park on the old Camp Wolters grounds, built around a 1922 water-supply lake for a spa town, with Penitentiary Hollow's rock climbing and a 20-mile trailway.
• Chandor Gardens — 18 mi
  A portrait painter's English-and-Chinese garden rooms, blasted and planted from a bare 3.5-acre hillside in Weatherford beginning in 1936, abandoned after 1978 and reopened by the city in 2002.

More markers nearby

• Mineral Wells — 0.3 mi
• Famous Mineral Water Company — 0.4 mi
• Dr. H.H. Milling — 0.4 mi
• Old Camp Wolters — 2.4 mi