King Star Baptist Church

The church was the first building of a railroad neighborhood. Black workers came with the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico line in 1904, and in 1913 the King Ranch built shotgun houses for their families in the district known as the Quarters. The district hired its first Black teacher, Jessie Mead, in 1909 and rented her a room here; a two-room Frederick Douglass School followed in 1913, burned in 1926, was rebuilt and closed in 1969, when its pupils went to King High. In the 1960s businessman Charles Andrews sat in a restaurant until he was served.

What the plaque says

King Star Baptist Church Early religious activities for African Americans in this area, many of whom arrived as employees of railroad companies, were conducted at a mission station, reportedly located under a mesquite tree, the Rev. William Green, a missionary for the Mount Zion Baptist Association, made frequent visits to deliver sermons at the site. In 1908, trustees for the Mount Zion Baptist Association purchased a plot of land for $265.00 and a building was erected to house services. On Easter Sunday, April 17, 1910, nine charter members officially formed the King Star Missionary Baptist Church, the first church for African Americans in Kingsville. The Rev. J. W. Brice, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Kingsville, gave the morning's sermon. The Rev. R. B. Shiner was called as first pastor. The church building was used as a school facility for the first African American children's classes in the Kingsville Independent School District. After 1912, at the request of church representatives, the school district began to pay rent of $5.oo per month for use of the building until a new facility was designated. Throughouth the 20th Century the King Star Baptist Church served the religious community of Kingsville in the 1950s church members participated in a program wherein both black and white congregations exchanged members once each month to further relations between local churches. The King Baptist Church continues to celebrate its dedication to worship and service to the community. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• King Ranch Visitor Center — 1.5 mi
  The bus-tour gate to a working ranch of about 825,000 acres, founded on Santa Gertrudis Creek in 1853 and worked from the start by the Kineños, families from Cruillas in Tamaulipas.
• Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas — 21 mi
  A museum in the Kenedy Pasture Company's 1927 office in Sarita, telling how Mifflin Kenedy and three generations of his family shaped the Wild Horse Desert, with murals and an audio guide.
• Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine — 24 mi
  The grave and shrine of the folk healer of Los Olmos, a place of prayer where South Texans still leave candles and letters for the curandero who took no fee.
• Heritage Museum at Falfurrias — 25 mi
  A free town museum of ranch gear, a Texas Ranger room and 99,000 photo negatives, in the town Edward Lasater built around his railroad and his Jersey cows.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Kingsville — 0.3 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Kingsville — 0.4 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Kingsville — 0.4 mi
• Uriah Lott — 0.5 mi