First Christian Church of Bay City

In late 1939 sulphur mining ended at Old Gulf, and Texas Gulf Sulphur began selling and moving its buildings. The company had built a combined sanctuary and community house there that stood unused. Church members bought it and had it moved north to Bay City, where Joe Birkner and his three sons poured the foundation and veneered the walls in brick. Formal services opened on March 28, 1940, and the mortgage was burned in 1947. The Sunday school annex became a five-room parsonage.

What the plaque says

First Christian Church of Bay City In 1894, the Bay City Town Company established the town of Bay City on Bay Prairie between the Colorado River and Caney Creek. As families moved to the new townsite, religious institutions, businesses and schools were established to serve the growing population. On April 4, 1904, trustees W. T. Goode, J. E. May and William Cash purchased several lots in town on which to construct the first permanent house of worship for the First Christian Church of Bay City. The First Christian Church building served as sanctuary, church school and social center for the new congregation until its destruction in a 1909 hurricane. Members of the church rebuilt their sanctuary and continued their traditions of worship and evangelism, including sponsoring an inter-denominational revival meeting in 1912. In 1939, they purchased and relocated a chapel and community center formerly owned by The Texas Gulf Sulphur Company in Old Gulf (16 mi. S) for their use. A period of growth in the 1940s-50s led to the purchase of additional land in 1954 and the construction of a larger sanctuary in 1960. Members of the First Christian Church of Bay City have included civic leaders, leaders in the Disciples of Christ denomination, talented musicians, and several who have gone into the ordained ministry. The congregation provides assistance to those in the community in need, as it continues to reflect the ideals and traditions of its founders. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 18 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 22 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Holy Cross Catholic Church — 0.5 mi
• Daily Tribune and Matagorda County Tribune — 0.8 mi
• Site of Early Bay City School — 1.1 mi
• Eastview Cemetery — 1.4 mi