St. Paul Baptist Church

The plaque calls Matthew Gaines a minister and senator; his road to that pulpit ran through two escapes. Born enslaved in Louisiana in 1840, he taught himself to read from smuggled books. A forged pass once carried him to Arkansas, and in 1863 Texas Rangers caught him at Fort McKavett, bound for Mexico. Freed, he preached at Burton and won a state Senate seat, pressing for schools and for the Morrill Act college that became Texas A&M. An 1873 bigamy conviction, later overturned, cost him the seat. Students raised $350,000 for his statue, unveiled at College Station in 2021.

What the plaque says

St. Paul Baptist Church This congregation was organized in 1870 by ex-slaves Bob Bennett, James Collier, Andrew Jackson, Elijah Lewis, Alfred Williams, Steve Williams, Henry Wilson, and their families. They worshiped first in a residence provided by Alford Williams, then erected a sanctuary in an area known as "The Flat." One prominent early member was Matthew Gaines (1842-1900), a former slave who became a minister, state senator, and spokesman for civil rights. St. Paul Baptist Church moved to its present location in 1911. The congregation supports a variety of community service activities. (1977) Bethel Union Baptist Church The La Grange Baptist District Association of Texas was organized in 1874. That same year, land was purchased in Giddings for a church that had recently been organized in a private home. A church building was soon erected, located south of the courthouse in a section of town known as The Flat. At the first service held in the new church, a name was adopted, Willow Grove Baptist Church. Also at that service, the Rev. I. Tolliver was named minister. Some years later, another church located in The Flat, St. Paul Chapel, and the Willow Grove Baptist Church merged to form one congregation. The church moved to its present site, at the corner of West Dallas and Hempstead streets. Following the union of the two congregations, the name was changed to Bethel Union Baptist Church. The official organization date of the church is 1886. The church continued to serve its community for a number of years. Eventually, part of the congregation left to form another congregation. Additional property was added to the church in 1911, 1940, 1942, and 1943. Five former pastors of Bethel Union Baptist Church have served as moderators of the La Grange Baptist District Association. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 5.2 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 15 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Round Top and Festival Hill — 17 mi
  A German village on the old La Bahía Road, named for a house tower, with an 1867 stone church, a Fourth of July kept since 1851 and a concert hall a pianist built without blueprints.
• Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites — 21 mi
  A shared tomb on the Colorado River bluff for the men of the Dawson fight and the black bean lottery, beside the ruins of a German stonemason's spring-fed brewery.

More markers nearby

• Shorter Chapel, A. M. E. Church — 0.3 mi
• County Named for Beloved Confederate General Robert E. Lee — 0.5 mi
• Lee County — 0.5 mi
• Milton Garrett York, Sr. — 0.5 mi