Mount Olive Baptist Church

The church built institutions as it grew. A 2021 Texas House resolution says Black Tarrant County residents founded Mount Olive in 1897 on Indiana Street, and that after the move to West Sanford Street in 1989 the congregation added a day care center, a Christian academy, a federal credit union and Arlington New Beginnings, a housing community for elderly residents. The same resolution commemorates Unity in the Community, a citywide worship service the church has hosted since 2017, with proceeds going to local charities. The plaque stops at the church's own worship and outreach programs.

What the plaque says

Mount Olive Baptist Church A small group of African American Tarrant County residents, led by the Rev. Mr. Squires, organized Mount Olive Baptist Church in the summer of 1897. Originally located on Indiana Street, the church moved to a new white brick sanctuary at 415 N. West Street in 1966, when the city of Arlington experienced a period of growth. The church had sixteen members in 1966, but soon the membership rolls began to increase. By 1976, when the church was formally incorporated, it had more than 400 members. Groundbreaking for a new church building took place on October 31, 1976, and by June 1978 the members were worshiping in a new facility. A steady increase in membership led to the building of additional facilities to house the extended ministries and programs of the church. By 1986, membership totaled 3,500. The church moved to new facilities on Sanford Street in 1989, and membership grew to 10,000 by 1997. In addition to its long history of providing worship and educational programs for its members, Mount Olive Baptist Church has maintained an innovative and active outreach program in the community. Celebrating a century of service in 1997, the church continues to uphold the values and traditions of its founders. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cedar Ridge Preserve — 11 mi
  A 633-acre Audubon Dallas preserve at the western edge of Dallas County, with about nine miles of trails through prairie, woodland and escarpment hills.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 13 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 14 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 15 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.

More markers nearby

• The Hill — steps away
• Emmanuel Church of God in Christ — steps away
• Booker T. Washington School — steps away
• John A. Kooken Elementary School — 0.2 mi