Mingus Baptist Church

Mingus is a railroad town named for a man who got there first. William Mingus settled in 1856, the Texas and Pacific came through in 1881, and the town grew along it, serving farmers and ranchers on Gibson and Palo Pinto creeks. Early settlers included J. R. Graves, Frank Bolen, B. H. Stewart and A. T. Crawford. The Handbook of Texas estimates 1,110 people in 1920 and again in 1930, with twenty-five businesses in 1930. By 1940 that had fallen to 570, and by 1980 to 212, though the post office stayed open.

What the plaque says

Mingus Baptist Church Area Baptists trace their history to 1891, when the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church congregation was organized with 14 charter members. Originally named for the rural schoolhouse where early worship services were held, the congregation was renamed Mingus Baptist Church in 1900. In 1905, Guy B. and Lucile Wilson deeded this property to the congregation for religious purposes, and services have been held at this site continually since 1906. Active in missionary programs, the congregation continues to play an important role in the religious life of Mingus. (1992)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Rip at the Eastland County Courthouse — 25 mi
  A horned lizard in a glass-topped casket in the 1928 Eastland courthouse, the creature said to have come out alive from the old building's cornerstone after thirty-one years.
• Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway — 29 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.

More markers nearby

• Site of Snake Saloon — 2.3 mi
• Site of Hotel Knox and Thurber Mining Office — 2.7 mi
• Thurber — 2.7 mi
• New York Hill — 2.9 mi