Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church

The first chapel, at Third and Cherry, did not stay put. Months after it was finished the congregation had to move it. As Rev. Franklin Gans Sr. tells it, some white youths wanted the building for a dance hall, and the members could keep it only by finding a new site, which they did near John and Fourth. The church at Fifth and John today is the fifth building. Gans calls Mount Zion the mother church of St. Paul's Baptist, which began because some members lived too far to walk to services. It was not a split, he says.

What the plaque says

Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church The earliest known Black congregation in Orange, Mount Zion Missionary Baptist church was started in 1871 as a result of the organizational efforts begun by Simon Jones, Peter Minor, and William Ruben Minor. Joined later by William Edwards, Boyd Scott, Arthur Robinson, and John Williams, they raised funds for the construction of a church building. Completed in 1872, the first sanctuary was a small frame structure on the corner of third and Cherry Streets. It was later moved to John Street and enlarged. The congregation was officially organized at a meeting in October 1873. The dedication ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Archie Vinerable and the Rev. A. J. Shotwell of Beaumont. Several other sanctuaries served the members before the present brick building was constructed in 1926. Designed by Dr. C. E. Jeter, it was completed during the pastorate of the Rev. W. J. Clark. The Mount Zion congregation has been instrumental in the development of the community, sponsoring missionary programs and serving as a nucleus for the formation of several churches. Many prominent area leaders have been members here. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stark Museum of Art — 0.5 mi
  A white-marble museum in Orange built by the Stark Foundation and opened in 1978, holding Western art, American Indian art, Audubon's Birds of America and Steuben glass, free to enter.
• Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center — 0.9 mi
  More than 250 acres on Adams Bayou, begun by H. J. Lutcher Stark in 1937, with garden rooms, a cypress-tupelo swamp, a heronry blind and free pontoon tours in season.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 20 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 21 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.

More markers nearby

• Black Education in Orange County — steps away
• Saint Paul Christian Methodist Episcopal Church — steps away
• Salem United Methodist Church — steps away
• St. Therese Catholic Church — 0.3 mi