First Baptist Church of Rice

Rice grew up beside the Houston and Texas Central, and the Handbook of Texas describes a town that kept rebuilding. A fire in May 1901 destroyed almost a third of the business district, a year after the census counted 268 residents. By 1906 the town ran two large public schools, one with 127 white students and one with 125 Black students. The Texas Electric Railway's Dallas-Corsicana line arrived in 1912, the year Rice incorporated. Population peaked near 900 in 1929, then slid through the Depression.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of Rice On Feb. 21, 1875, three years after a rail line was built to the area, a group of local residents met to organize this congregation. Early worship services were conducted in the community schoolhouse. In 1894 a sanctuary was constructed at this site on land acquired from Rice Institute, a Houston organization founded by railroadman William Marsh Rice, for whom this town was named. For over a century, the First Baptist Church has led in the development of the area. Its role in the community continues to reflect the ideals of its pioneer founders. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroleum Industry Park — 11 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.
• Ellis County Courthouse — 23 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.

More markers nearby

• Rice — steps away
• Haynie Memorial Methodist Church — steps away
• Rice Cemetery — 0.9 mi
• Alma — 4.1 mi