Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church

Markham began in 1903 as Tent City, with no streets or lots. The canal company later built houses for Black residents in the northeast part of the townsite and painted them red, and the district became Red Town. The congregation organized on November 15, 1903, in the home of Isaac and Nancy Crawford, with the cook Celia Rainey among the founders. In 1923 the church bought its lot on Avenue B for $35. After Carla destroyed that building in 1961, only the bell and perhaps a few pews were saved.

What the plaque says

Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church The Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church traces its history to November 1903, when a number of residents of Markham's "Tent City" later known as "Red Town," organized a congregation. Nine charter members were among those who worked on the canal, cattle ranches, rail lines and in the rice fields in the area. The Reverend Andrew Lee of Bay City was their first pastor. The congregation's first building, erected in 1909. was destroyed in a hurricane the same year. Immediately rebuilt, it was replaced by a new structure in 1923; that one was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1961. The members acquired the former Ashby Memorial Baptist Church building and moved it from the Ashby community in 1962. Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church members continue in the traditions of their founders with programs of worship and service. (1999)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 25 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 29 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Elliott's Ferry — 4.3 mi
• Dr. Henry Hofmann Loos — 4.5 mi
• Clemville — 4.9 mi
• Site of Hilliard High School — 5.1 mi