Shiloh Baptist Church

The congregation is an anchor of Plano's Douglass Community, the historically Black neighborhood. Plano Magazine reports that on November 10, 2019 the pastor rang the church's historic bell for its 135th anniversary, and that in the early days the bell was tolled when someone in the community died. The magazine adds that much early history was lost when one of the buildings burned, and that Rev. Isiah Joshua Jr. says the church was the one place Black residents could gather and be expressive when they were not allowed elsewhere.

What the plaque says

Shiloh Baptist Church This congregation was organized in 1884 as the Mt. Zion Colored Baptist Church. Led by the Rev. Z.T. Stuart, the charter members were Ammon Drake, Lula Drake, Minnie Drake Stuart, and Kanzetta Bowen. Located at this site since its organization, the congregation has worshiped in four buildings. The first sanctuary was a small structure lighted by coal oil lamps and heated by a wood burning stove. The current church building was constructed in 1964. Throughout its history, Shiloh Baptist Church has served its community with worship, education, and outreach programs. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 11 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 16 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Fair Park — 17 mi
  The State Fair of Texas grounds since 1886, where the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition left one of the country's greatest concentrations of Art Deco exposition buildings.
• African American Museum, Dallas — 17 mi
  Founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a free Fair Park museum holding the Sepia photograph archive, African art and A. Maceo Smith's papers, and the story of the Hall of Negro Life.

More markers nearby

• Plano Cemetery — steps away
• First Christian Church of Plano — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Plano — 0.4 mi
• Plano Mutual Cemetery — 1.2 mi