Mount Zion Baptist Church

Minerva, where one parent congregation began, took its name from a woman. Minerva Adeline Sanders donated land for the station when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway came through in 1891, and a post office opened in 1892. A shallow oilfield found nearby in 1921 set off a small boom, and production peaked in 1927 at 455,985 barrels. Minerva stayed mostly a farming place. The railroad quit in 1959, the post office in the mid-1960s, and the Handbook of Texas reported about sixty residents from the 1980s through 2000.

What the plaque says

Mount Zion Baptist Church Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, organized in 1872 (4.5 mi. W), and Fellowship Baptist Church, formed about 1877 in Minerva (2 mi. N), merged in 1895 to form Mount Zion Baptist Church. The Rev. N. J. Dyer served as first pastor. Services were held in a building relocated to two acres here in 1895. In 1941 membership expanded, a Women's Missionary Union was formed, and the church joined the Milam County Association. Over the years new facilities have been built, including a new sanctuary in 1982. The church continues to be active in missionary outreach and community educational programs. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 8.4 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Calvert — 25 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.

More markers nearby

• La Recluta and La Escuelita — 4.3 mi
• Bushdale Community — 4.5 mi
• Daniel and Precilla Gilleland — 4.6 mi
• Matinee Musical Club — 4.9 mi