First Baptist Church of San Saba

San Saba took root in 1855, when ranchers and cotton growers settled the banks of the river that gave the town its name, and it won the county seat when the county was organized the next year. Baptists and Methodists held the first services. After the Civil War, cattle, sheep and cotton kept the town growing, and by the 1890s it was a finance, processing and marketing center whose merchants sold wagons, farm tools, furniture and clothing. Within two decades of its founding it had 1,200 people, two newspapers, a bank and busy gins and mills.

What the plaque says

First Baptist Church of San Saba Prior to the establishment of the town of San Saba, a group of citizens formed a Baptist congregation which met in homes three miles east on Simpson Creek. Formed in 1856, the congregation was served by missionary preacher T. Howard (1817-1882). The members agreed to move their church to town as soon as the site was determined. When the first San Saba Courthouse was completed in 1857, the Baptist congregation began meeting there, continuing until 1878, when they met in a small schoolhouse. In 1883, under the guidance of The Rev. McHenry Seal (1877-1957), a church building was erected at 307 E. Storey Street. A parsonage was added in 1899. Both structures were destroyed by fire in 1923. A building fund was started, and in 1924 the present site was acquired and a new church was begun. The basement construction was of marble donated by a local quarry, which closed due to financial troubles. The building was completed using red brick. A native stone parsonage was built in 1932. In 1947, an educational facility was added, using converted barracks purchased from Fort Hood. A new educational wing was built in 1973, and the sanctuary was remodeled in 1982. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Bend State Park — 18 mi
  Old ranch country on the Colorado above Lake Buchanan, where a spring-fed creek drops 70 feet over fern-covered travertine at Gorman Falls.

More markers nearby

• San Saba Church of Christ — steps away
• American Legion Wiley B. Murray Post No. 27 — steps away
• The Texas Rangers and the San Saba Mob — 0.3 mi
• Edmond E. Risien, Pecan Pioneer — 0.3 mi